Following the discovery of the fraud, Roger Bryant attempted to pervert the course of justice by asking two people to lie and say they had witnessed works take place at various locations, when in fact they had not.
In a separate fraud against the National Trust in 2013, Roger Bryant submitted invoices in relation to a real contractor for work supposedly carried out on National Trust properties, when the work had been carried out on Roger Bryant’s own property.
Judge Burgess KC described Bryant’s criminality as “audacious and protracted”, adding that he had a position of considerable trust within the organisation and was responsible for a budget of more than half a million per year.
Judge Burgess said that he actively abused his position and that his sons were consciously complicit in the offending.
The National Trust said it was “pleased with the outcome” of the court case.
“We trust our staff to do their jobs efficiently and honestly which is vitally important to an organisation responsible for looking after many different places in such a wide geographical area,” it said.
“We have all been very shocked at the crimes committed by a trusted member of staff.”
