A 51-year-old Kingsteington man has been jailed for his involvement in a criminal conspiracy, which included bribery, money laundering and fraud, linked to the Cranbrook housing development near Exeter.

Matthew Hayward was jailed for 30 months and disqualified from being a company director for seven years after pleading guilty to charges of bribery and being involved with a money laundering arrangement.

Hayward was one of six people to be sentenced for their involvement in the conspiracy where crooked construction bosses bribed energy officials to the tune of around £2million to secure lucrative contracts and other favours linked to the development of the new Cranbrook community in East Devon and at other locations around the UK.

Hayward, a quantity surveyor for E.ON, and colleague Mark Baker, who was E.ON’s head of projects and later head of build for the project, were responsible for signing off works at the Cranbrook development.

Baker was found to have accepted bribes from individuals from construction contractors Priddy Engineering and RK Civil Engineering who were keen to cement commercial relationships with E.ON. Hayward, who played a key role in authorising the payment of contractors’ invoices, also received illegal payments.

The bribes started in 2011 and continued until the end of 2015 when E.ON discovered and reported the activity.

Hayward received around £40,000 in bribes from Andrew Blunsdon of Priddy Engineering between 2011 and 2012 relating to Priddy’s ongoing contract with E.ON at Cranbrook. Heywood also signed off an invoice for the installation of an air conditioning unit at Blunsdon’s wife’s florist shop.

Heyward also accepted £1.4million from Leicester-based RK Civil Engineering, which were covered up by false invoices that were submitted to RK Civil Engineering by two companies associated with Hayward. The Kingsteignton man also received cash, hotel rooms and an Audi car.

Hayward had what was described as a ‘raging gambling habit’, a habit he shared with RK Civil Engineering partner Timothy Patterson. Heyward ‘kicked back’ some of the money he received from RK Civil Engineering to Patterson, who then spent it.

E.ON discovered the wrongdoing after Hayward and his colleague Baker moved on.

Former E.ON employee Mark Baker and his wife Angela Baker from Goole in Yorkshire, Timothy Patterson from Derby, a partner in R K Civil Engineering, Richard King from Husbands Bosworth in South Leicestershire, who controlled R K Civil Engineering, and Andrew Blunsdon from Winscombe in Somerset, who controlled Priddy Engineering, appeared at Winchester Crown Court on April 30 and May 1 for sentencing after pleading guilty to various offences.

Detective inspector Dan Parkinson from the Devon and Cornwall Police complex fraud team said: ‘These individuals believed corrupt practice was widespread in the construction industry and the method by which business was done.’

‘This was a complex and time-consuming investigation, but we are happy to have worked alongside E.ON and secured convictions against the six defendants who believed the rules did not apply to them and they could do whatever they wanted to reach their desired goal,’ he added.

An E.ON UK spokesperson said: ‘Our internal processes enabled us to identify this case and take decisive action. Reflecting our zero-tolerance approach to bribery, we reported the matter to police and have fully supported their investigation.