Former Norton boss Stuart Garner receives 8 month suspended sentence

Stuart Garner, the former boss of Norton Motorcycles, has been sentenced by Derby Crown Court today, 31 March 2022. 

Garner’s sentencing comes a month after it was originally due to take place on 28 February 2022. 

Garner has been sentenced to 12 months in prison, according to the BBC. But that sentence has been commuted to eight months, and suspended by two years. 

The suspension of the sentence means that, unless Garner commits another offence in that two-year period, he will not go to prison.

Judge Nirmal Shant QC said, “I have read statement after statement of the trauma you have done to the lives of ordinary people who thought they were investing in their future,” according to the BBC. 

She continued, “Many of them spoke of broken relationships, profound ill health, and having to face the misery of having to work much longer than they planned because of the financial damage you have done."

The sentencing is in relation to the case brought against Garner by the Pensions Regulator, as a result of employer related investment (ERI) law (which states that no more than 5% of pension funds can be invested in ERIs) breaches in 2012 and 2013. 

Garner had bought Norton Motorcycles in 2008, but by 2020 the firm was in administration.

Previously, the court had heard that Garner had invested £11million into his business from three pensions of which he was the sole trustee: Dominator 2012, Commando 2012 and Donington MC. In total, 227 people were affected.