National Finance director denied bail again

Trevor Ludlow at the Auckland District Court for sentencing on 20 October 2011. Photo / Dean Purcell

Former National Finance director Trevor Allan Ludlow has failed a second time to get bail before he appeals against his prison sentence.

Ludlow was convicted last year of six charges of theft by a person in a special relationship and one of false accounting in a case brought by the Serious Fraud Office.

He was sentenced by an Auckland District Court judge to five years and seven months in jail.

After pleading guilty to eight further charges brought by the Financial Markets Authority, Ludlow had an extra nine months added to his sentence by a High Court judge.

But Ludlow is now appealing his sentences in both courts as well as the convictions made by the District Court.

He applied in September to get bail from Springhill Prison so he could prepare for his appeal, which is due to begin in the first part of next year.

The jailed finance company boss argued there were inadequate facilities for him to prepare for his case.

However, bail was denied and this month Ludlow tried a second time to get released.

In his latest attempt for bail, Ludlow had abandoned his arguments about Springhill's facilities and was critical about the judgment convicting him, comparing it to other judgments that contained "greater degrees of detail".

But in a decision today three court of appeal judges denied the prisoner's application.

"There is nothing concerning the entry of the convictions or the sentences imposed that persuades us that bail should be granted. We bear in mind that Mr Ludlow was convicted of offending involving significant dishonesty," Justice Raynor Asher said in the reasons for the decision.

"Mr Ludlow has not satisfied us on the balance of probabilities that it would be in the interests of justice to grant him bail," Justice Asher said.