Matthew Temple took three £50,000 Bounce Back Loans for Pizza Cottage on East Parade, and £11,090 went on gambling. He has been jailed for two years.

The former boss of Pizza Cottage on East Parade in Whitley Bay has been jailed for two years for taking three £50,000 Covid Bounce Back Loans for the business when it was allowed only one.

Matthew Temple, 44, of Bank Court, North Shields, was sentenced at Newcastle Crown Court on Friday 23 October, the Insolvency Service said. He had pleaded guilty to three counts of fraud by false representation at North Tyneside Magistrates’ Court in September. He was known as Mehdi Ghaneh-Keisami when the offences were committed.

Investigators found that £131,419 of the £150,000 was not spent wholly for business purposes. That included £11,090 across 46 gambling transactions from one of the company’s business accounts in less than two weeks in July 2020.

Three loans in a little over a month

Pizza Cottage (Whitley Bay) Limited, company number 10247689, was set up in June 2016 with Temple as its sole director.

According to the Insolvency Service, he secured the first £50,000 loan in May 2020, shortly after the scheme launched. Three days later he applied for a second, declaring falsely that it was the company’s only application. He got a third the following month after making the same false declaration again. Each time he also declared that the money would be used for the benefit of the business.

The day after the first loan reached the company’s account, 7 May 2020, £264 was spent on children’s toys and play equipment, investigators found.

Asked why he had taken a second loan after already receiving one, Temple told them:

“I know it was my fault, I shouldn’t… I should tell them it was my second, but they didn’t check it either.”

He had already been disqualified as a company director for 12 years in 2024, after civil investigations into his conduct by the Insolvency Service.

The Insolvency Service wants the money back

The Insolvency Service is now seeking to recover the money under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

David Snasdell, its Chief Investigator, said:

“Matthew Temple exploited a taxpayer-backed scheme designed to help businesses through the pandemic by obtaining three £50,000 loans when his company was entitled to only one.

“Company funds were then spent on gambling and even children’s toys and play equipment, despite Temple declaring the money would be used for the benefit of his business.

“Temple is now beginning a two-year prison sentence, but our work does not stop at securing a conviction. We are also seeking to recover the money he fraudulently obtained and return funds to the public purse.”

Directors can read about their legal duties on the Insolvency Service’s Director Information Hub, and anyone with concerns about a company or director can report financial misconduct to the agency.