A RESPECTED businessman turned to wholesale dishonesty in a desperate bid to save a failing hotel venture.

Anthony Mattimoe, 61, a former pillar of the community in the Bishop Auckland area, was jailed yesterday for two years for a "deliberate fraud" involving £382,000 of investors' money.

Despite glowing testimonials from clergy, business and community figures, plus a letter of support from ex-Tyne-Tees TV anchorman and actor Bill Steel, Judge Richard Lowden said he had no alternative but to jail him.

Judge Lowden said Mattimoe, who also gained £52,700 illegally from credit card companies at a time the business was virtually insolvent, told "blatant lies" to obtain money.

Prior to being sentenced, Mattimoe made an emotional apology at Durham Crown Court.

He said: "I made a lot of mistakes and I'll never forget that for the rest of my life.

"I tried everything I could, but I failed. For that I would like to say how sorry I am to the investors and also to my family for any trouble or otherwise that I have brought to the courts and authorities for what has happened.

"I would just like to say I'm so very, very sorry."

The court heard that Mattimoe and his wife, and business partner, Jean, ploughed hundreds of thousands of pounds of investors' money into the restoration and running of the Park Head Hotel, at New Coundon, near Bishop Auckland, County Durham.

As the business failed, Mattimoe continually pestered investors, many of them family friends, for further loans to prop up the ailing business.

The court heard that much of the money found its way into directors' accounts in the name of the Mattimoes, and was used for personal expenditure.

Prosecutor Peter Johnson said the fraudulent trading effectively carried on for almost four years, until the business folded with debts of more than £2m in September 1996.

Despite being declared bankrupt, Mattimoe became involved in a Bishop Auckland taxi business, forging a document to help acquire a loan of £20,000.

Mattimoe, of New South View, Chilton, County Durham, admitted two charges of false accounting and one of fraudulent trading relating to the Park Head Hotel. He also admitted forgery and using a false instrument connected to his involvement in Cable Taxis, at Bishop Auckland.

His wife Jean, 59, received a nine-month sentence, suspended for two years, after admitting four charges of failing to keep proper accounting records, at Newcastle Crown Court, last June.

Stephen Reid, mitigating, described Mattimoe's dealings as "the desperate acts of a desperate man".

Judge Lowden said: "This was sadly serious and deliberate fraud to keep afloat what was described as a sinking company, one you knew was sinking."

The judge also disqualified Mattimoe from being a company director for five years.