R v Edlin Macarthur Myles

• Jurisdiction: Cayman Islands
• Judge: Alexander Henderson
• Judgment Date: 27 June 2014
• Court: Grand Court (Cayman Islands)
• Docket Number: Ind. No. 70 of 2012

Regina

and

Edlin Macarthur Myles

Before:

Hon. Justice Alexander Henderson

Ind. No. 70 of 2012

IN THE GRAND COURT OF THE CAYMAN ISLANDS

HOLDEN AT GEORGE TOWN, GRAND CAYMAN

Appearances:

Mr. Trevor Ward Q.C. and Ms. Laura Manson of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions for the Crown

Mr. Ben Tonner of Samson & McGrath for the Defendant

1 The Defendant Mr. Edlin Myles has been convicted by a jury of seven counts of obtaining pecuniary advantage by deception and of obtaining property by deception. These charges encompass three transactions.

2 Mr. Myles was a licensed insurance salesman at the material time. In each case he sold a policy of life insurance to a person who was an applicant for a government subsidized house under the Affordable Housing Initiative. The deception was that he represented to each client, in effect, that they needed to buy insurance immediately. In fact, they did not need to buy insurance until their applications had been approved by the National Housing Development Trust and until they had obtained a mortgage agreement from an institutional lender.

3 The total amount of money obtained through this deception was $630.00 in the form of monthly premiums paid during the period when the insurance was actually unnecessary. Mr. Myles benefited from the deception because he was paid a commission which was a portion of the premium payments during the first year.

4 However, there is much more to the case than that. Mr. Myles was, at the material time, the deputy director of the Board of the National Housing Development Trust, He also sat on its loans committee. Upon accepting the appointment to the Board, Mr. Myles signed an agreement to abide by a Code of Conduct which included a provision that he would not seek to use his office for personal gain. He was paid $200.00 per meeting for his services.

5 In his capacity with the Board he had access to confidential information regarding these applicants and others. He was also one of the persons who decided which applicants would receive government assistance and which would not. There were several hundred applicants but only twelve houses were available at the time of the offences.

6 Mr. Myles obtained from a Trust employee the private contact details for several applicants. He phoned the three victims and represented that he was calling “from the Trust”. He was actually calling in his personal capacity to attempt to sell insurance. He said in his evidence that he was phoning to “congratulate” the applicants, although at the time they had not yet been approved by the Trust and had not obtained mortgages.

7 The jury found as a fact that he conveyed to each of the three victims the clear impression that the applicant had to obtain life insurance immediately rather than waiting until the approvals were granted. The three victims accepted this representation as truthful, purchased policies and paid premiums for a short period of time. None of the three applicants ended up with a house subsidized through the Trust. All were in difficult financial circumstances and could ill afford to buy life insurance and pay monthly premiums.

8 Mr. Myles is 62 years of age and has a high school education. He has been a life insurance agent for many years and has achieved considerable success selling policies. Mr. Myles has also been very active in a wide variety of charitable organizations and has sat on numerous government bodies. A large number of prominent members of the community have testified to his high reputation on Grand Cayman. He is a man of previous good character and has no criminal record. I view that as a mitigating factor.

9 My distinct impression from...