Court finds serious breach after director failed to comply with order to account for estate funds subject to freezing order
The sole director of a probate company has been jailed for 12 months after failing to comply with court orders to account for hundreds of thousands of pounds belonging to a deceased client’s estate.
In Mason Estate v Probate Specialist Ltd, Recorder Adrian Jack found that Stephen Jameson was in “serious breach” of an earlier order and that, given the sums involved, an immediate custodial sentence was justified.
The executors of Thomas George Heritage Mason, who died in 2021, had appointed Probate Specialist Ltd (PSL) to administer the estate. Jameson was and remains the company’s sole director. PSL obtained a grant of probate in January 2022 and subsequently received £505,000 from the executors, of which around £73,000 was paid out for legitimate purposes.
By October 2023, a bank statement shown to the executors indicated that approximately £391,000 remained. The resulting shortfall was, the court found, “unexplained”.
Jameson maintained that the funds had been misappropriated by a business associate, Michael Smith, said to have been involved in setting up PSL. However, the judge noted this assertion was unsupported by independent evidence, adding that the executors did not accept that such a person existed.
In December 2025, the court made a proprietary freezing order over £432,000 and required Jameson to provide an affidavit within 14 days detailing the whereabouts of the funds. The order carried a penal notice. He failed to comply.
An affidavit eventually served in February was found to be deficient. The court noted that it gave no details of when or where any transfers had been made, to whom funds had been sent, and exhibited no supporting documentation.
Recorder Jack said he was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Jameson had breached the order and had not made “any proper attempts” to obtain bank statements or trace the missing money. His failures were “intentional and contumelious”.
The judge added that, even on Jameson’s own case, he claimed to be a victim of fraud, yet had taken no meaningful steps to investigate what had happened to the estate funds.
Jameson told the court he had become aware of the loss in late 2024 and referred to personal difficulties, including health issues. The court accepted that imprisonment would be a particular hardship but found that this did not outweigh the seriousness of the breach.
“I take into account Mr Jameson’s poor health… however… given that this is a serious breach… and that the sums involved are large, in my judgment a sentence of one year’s imprisonment is appropriate,” Recorder Jack said.
The court declined to suspend the sentence, finding that doing so would provide “no encouragement” to purge the contempt.
A further order was made requiring Jameson to provide full details of what happened to the estate monies by 1 May. The judge warned that failure to comply could result in further contempt proceedings and a longer sentence.