Buckingham Palace maintenance boss jailed

LONDON:  The official in charge of maintaining Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth II´s London residence, was on Wednesday jailed for five years for accepting more than £100,000 ($130,000, 116,000 euros) to award valuable contracts.

As deputy property manager for the Royal Household, Ronald Harper, was also responsible for maintaining St James´s Palace, Clarence House and Windsor Castle until he was suspended in 2012.

Judge Nicholas Loraine-Smith at London´s Southwark Crown Court sentenced the 64-yeard-old to three-year and two-year jail terms for two counts of conspiracy to make corrupt payments, a total of five years.

"During his employment, Harper personally received more than £100,000 in covert payments from companies which were awarded lucrative and prestigious contracts for mechanical and electrical work in Buckingham Palace, the Queen´s Gallery, St James´s Palace and Kensington Palace," said a statement from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), the state prosecutor.

Judge Loraine-Smith said that Harper had appeared a "hard-working, apparently loyal team player, admired and trusted by colleagues", but that was hiding a "dishonest and greedy" side.

"Nobody could have guessed that a trusted insider such as yourself could think of going to the lengths that you did to corrupt the system for personal gain," he said. "Your betrayal of your colleagues´ trust and your lack of remorse at what you did are both remarkable."

Harper received corrupt payments from the former owners of electrical firm Melton Power Services (MPS) and maintenance group BSI Nordale. The court was told the payments were made to secure or retain lucrative contracts with the Royal Household. Former MPS director Steven Thompson, 62, was earlier jailed for 18 months while BSI Nordale director Christopher Murphy, 56, received an 18-month sentence.