Company directors 'stole pounds 2m of wines'

TWO directors of a leading wine dealer stole pounds 2m worth of fine wines, vintage port and champagne which was being stored for customers, a court was told yesterday.

Inner London Crown Court was told that thousands of cases were removed from bonded warehouses, and from the London headquarters of the company, Green's Ltd.

Joseph Mankowitz and Raymond Burroway, who bought the firm in 1990, then engineered a bogus sale of Green's storage operations to cover their tracks, Paul Dodgson, for the prosecution, alleged. Mr Dodgson claimed the sale was a 'charade' to cover up the theft of 6,800 cases of wine, port and champagne in the autumn of 1990.

Mr Mankowitz, 47, of Earls Court, west London, and Mr Burroway, 52, of Wandsworth, south-west London, deny conspiring to steal the wine. Anthony Boylan, 58, a co- defendant from Dulwich, south- east London, also denies the charge. He is alleged to have used a false name to remove some of the wine.

The trial continues today.