by Paul Hooper

The director of a Folkestone company will be sentenced next month for his part in a complex multi million pound fraud.

Michael Turner, 32, admitted cheating Revenue and Customs out of duties for alcohol between 2007 and 2008.

Two other men have been found guilty on a similar charge after a three-month trial at Canterbury Crown Court.

Turner, of Merchant Place, Rendezvous Street, was a a director of Keytrades (Europe) Limited.

The jury heard that it was "one of the main companies" involved in a trading chain designed to divert duties from drink sales away from the Revenue.

Davinder Dhaliwal, also 32, of Langdale Gardens, Dartford will also be sentenced after he admitted a similar charge.

Kevin Burrage, 49, of Shoeburyness, Southend and Gary Clarke, 55, of Thorpe Bay, Southend both denied the charge but were convicted by a jury.

The prosecution said the scheme involved diverting alcohol from bonded warehouses into the domestic market without duties being paid.

A fifth man, Stephen Debruin, 52, of Hornchurch, Essex was found not guilty of cheating after a jury considered its verdict for nearly 27 hours.