Jack Mason’s appeal against 22 month jail sentence for contempt of court fails

The Court of Appeal has rejected an appeal by former Inc & Co chief executive Jack Mason to overturn his 22 month jail sentence for contempt of court.

Mason, who is understood to be in Spain, appealed against a ruling by Judge Rajah in July 2024 that he was in contempt for moving business assets offshore in breach of freezing orders granted to Barclays Bank, along with colleagues Scott Dylan and Dave Antrobus.

As TheBusinessDesk.com reported at the time, in sentencing them Judge Rajah was scathing about the trio who he said “lied on a prolific scale”.

On Friday morning 14 March 2025, Lord Justice Lewison, Lady Justice King and Lord Justice Coulson in the civil division of the Court of Appeal, handed down their rejection of Mason’s appeal on three of the four counts, so the sentence stands. 

Mason was successful in appealing one count of the charges after the appeal court judges considered “procedural shortcomings” by the Barclays legal team made elements of the case unfair. 

“Even liars are entitled to know precisely what they are alleged to have done, and to answer those allegations. It was, in my judgment, wrong in principle for the judge to have made findings of fact, which went beyond the allegation contained in the Application Notice, without requiring an amendment to be made,” the judgement handed down on Friday, 14th of October said.

However, as the other appeals were either rejected, or denied, it has no effect on the 22 month sentence of imprisonment imposed concurrently on him.

In the High Court in London, on the 30th of October, Judge Rajah handed down a sentence of 22 months in jail to Mason, and his former business partner Scott Dylan and their chief technology officer David Antrobus, after his earlier July ruling that they were in contempt of court on four counts of transferring shares in  breach of freezing orders in respect of Fresh Thinking Group, Inc Travel Group, and the release of a debenture relating to travel agency Baldwins. 

Barclays further alleges that they are the victims of a £13.7m theft by them, and others involved in their business Inc & Co, which invested into distressed businesses through an associated business, Fresh Thinking Group, controlled by Dylan.

Mason was initially required to surrender his passport, but appealed that ruling. He then failed to appear for the sentencing and is understood to be in Barcelona. Dave Antrobus also failed to appear in court, sending a message to his legal team that he was too ill to travel from Ireland.

Mason was not in court for the appeal, about which Lady Justice King said: “In my experience, it is all too common for a contemnor to absent themselves not only from the committal hearing but also from the hearing of their appeal.” 

Quoting additional cases, she added: “Particularly ‘repugnant,’ is a situation where a contemnor joins the hearing of their appeal by way of video link from the safety of whichever country in which they have sought refuge.” 

She went on to say the court is “powerless” to impose any condition requiring the attendance of the contemnor in person to the hearing of their appeal, and suggested reform of the rules. 

Jack Mason, ex CEO of Inc and Co (photo from LinkedIn)

However, on the outcome, Mason told TheBusinessDesk.com: “I’m pleased that the Court of Appeal has overturned Count 4, which was the only allegation that claimed I personally transferred my shares in breach of the freezing order. This was significant to me because I have always denied doing this myself, as it was done without my knowledge or authorisation. The ruling confirms that this allegation was procedurally unfair and should never have been upheld.

“While my sentence remains unchanged, this decision highlights that not all of the findings against me were justified. This was an important point to get across, and I take some comfort in the fact that the Court of Appeal has recognised this error.”

During the contempt trial schisms between the three emerged, and Mason attempted to make the case that critical decisions over the moving of assets had been made without his consent, despite his earlier affidavits.  

Dylan is currently serving his jail sentence, while Antrobus, who like Mason failed to appear at the sentencing hearing, is also on the run.

As previously reported on TheBusinessDesk.com, Dylan also failed in an appeal to overturn his sentence. In a hearing held in the Court of Appeal on the 17th of December 2024, Dylan’s lawyer, Ian Bridge from Lewis Nedas, pressed five grounds of appeal: that the sentence was too long; that the Judge Rajah failed to take into account Dylan’s vulnerability by reason of his psychiatric condition, and the effects of a custodial sentence upon him and his immediate family; that the judge was also wrong to question the value of the transferred assets; that he failed to follow the sentencing guidelines by refusing to suspend any part of the sentence; and that he failed to distinguish adequately between Dylan and Antrobus and Mason.

All grounds were dismissed by Lady Justice Elisabeth Laing and Lord Justice Zacaroli in an approved judgement handed down on the 17th of January 2025.

In November 2021 Barclays had obtained freezing orders after the bank discovered multiple withdrawals below a £50,000 threshold, over which they would have had to seek credit approvals.

Barclays has an additional case against the trio, and others, which had been scheduled for a court date in January 2025, in an attempt to recover £13.7m it claims was taken to fund private jet trips, to acquire business assets, including a travel agency and a hotel in Turkey, but also for the personal enrichment of Scott Dylan and his partner.

In the meantime the remaining assets of Inc & Co have suffered catastrophic events since the jailing of Dylan. Inc Spaces have been evicted from its one remaining premises in Manchester. Baldwins Travel has been stripped of its ABTA membership, putting the business at risk. Skylab and King Street Grooming have been sold to businessman Luthias McCash, but are also now without a home. 

Important footnote: Fresh Thinking Group (now known as Old3 Limited) is in no way connected to Fresh Thinking Capital, a specialist lender, and Fresh Thinking Advisory which provides whole market corporate debt advisory.