Nicholas Couch’s Frontier Technical Services Ltd was appointed in July 2016 to oversee conversion work at Epicurus House in Sevenoaks – an office building being turned into six residential apartments.

Couch produced a fake bank statement to show his company had paid British Gas more than £20,000 for gas installation work when questioned by the property owners about the payment.

Investigations revealed that no payment had ever been made and the work had not been carried out.

Couch, of St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, was sentenced to 15 months in prison, suspended for 20 months, at Lewes Crown Court last week after pleading guilty to charges of fraud and falsifying accounting records earlier this year.

The 51-year-old was disqualified as a company director for four years and ordered to complete 100 hours of unpaid work.

Couch will also have to pay compensation of £5,000 and costs of £2,500.

Chris Wood, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said: “Nicholas Couch was appointed to take over as project manager for this development and was in a position of trust which he deliberately abused for personal gain.

“His offending was both sophisticated and calculated – he created entirely false documents to cover up the fact that no work had been done and no payment had been made to British Gas, defrauding the property owners of more than £20,000.

“Directors like this not only harm their immediate victims but undermine confidence in the construction industry as a whole, making it harder for legitimate businesses to operate and damaging trust with customers and investors.”

Frontier Technical Services Ltd entered liquidation in April 2019.