SENTENCING STATEMENTS
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Read more about victims of crime and sentencing.
HMA v Stuart Wilson
May 14, 2026
Upon sentencing at the High Court in Glasgow, Lord Arthurson made the following remarks:
"Stuart Wilson, at a preliminary hearing at Glasgow High Court on 13 April 2026 you tendered a plea of guilty to a single charge of fraud, comprising in short a fraudulent scheme formed and perpetrated by you, while acting on a concerted basis with others, over a libelled period of September 2022 to May 2024, whereby you applied for and obtained credit to the value of £865,000, ordered and obtained goods to the value of £723,967.27, and you did obtain these credit facilities and goods by fraud. This was in essence a long firm fraud in which you acted throughout as the principal of the whole operation.
"You are now aged 50. You have accrued to date some 11 groups of previous convictions, only one of which is relevant to the sentencing exercise before the court in the present case. That conviction in 2005 was directly analogous, was at sheriff and jury level and attracted a 4 year sentence of imprisonment.
"I have listened carefully to the submissions offered on your behalf this morning in mitigation by your counsel, and note in particular what has been said regarding your acceptance of responsibility for your criminal conduct and the timing and utility of your plea of guilty; your recognition of the impact which this offending had on others and; indeed the high level of culpability involved therein.
"This was a sophisticated and high value commercial fraudulent scheme, which involved a significant degree of planning, in which you played a principal role and which was perpetrated over a prolonged period of time. It was by no means a victimless crime, far from it, as the detailed agreed narrative read out in court on the date of your plea made crystal clear. You additionally have a highly relevant directly analogous conviction on indictment, albeit from some time ago. A substantial custodial sentence is in these circumstances plainly inevitable today.
"In terms of disposal, I accordingly now confirm that on charge one on this indictment you will serve a sentence of 5 years and 6 months imprisonment, reduced due to the timing and utility of your early plea from a period of 7 years. This sentence will be backdated to the date of your conviction and initial remand into custody in these proceedings, namely to 13 April 2026.
"Confiscation proceedings are now ongoing and a first procedural hearing is hereby fixed for 3 August 2026 at Edinburgh High Court."
14 May 2026