A CORRUPT council official who received cash and gifts from two company bosses and falsified contracts has been put behind bars.

Brian Wood, 52, was given an £18,000 car and an exotic £2,000 holiday to Mauritius by Paul Whitehead, whose company, PDW Electrical Services, carried out work for Medway council.

Russell Millen received £940 in September 2004 for software that was not needed and £564 in December that year for work that was not carried out.

There was a perceived threat that if Millen did not assist him, legitimate work would be withdrawn. Millen also runs a flying school and needed contracts to pay for aircraft to be upgraded.

Wood, a divorced father-of-two, was said to have had a reputation for making contractors’ lives a misery and if they did not meet his demands, they could forget about council work.

Both Whitehead, 35, and Russell Millen, 35, whose Millen Corporation supplies software that analyses traffic control signals, agreed to Wood’s demands after being threatened they would lose valuable council contracts.

Jailing Wood for 12 months at Maidstone Crown Court, Mr Recorder Philip Bartle, QC, told him: “I have no doubt you are the person who is responsible for all that has occurred in this case.

“Most people would think you were greedy because you obtained a car worth nearly £20,000 and a holiday worth about £2,000, despite the fact you must have been earning a respectable amount in your job.”

Whitehead, a special constable, of Court Tree Drive, Eastchurch, near Sheerness, and Millen, of Birchfields, Walderslade, Chatham, escaped prison sentences.

Wood and Whitehead admitted corruption and conspiracy to commit false accounting. Whitehead was given a nine-month suspended sentence for two years.

Millen was given a community order - 150 hours' unpaid work.

The court heard that Wood, now of Twerton, Bath, was employed in 2001 as a principal engineer in the development and environment department, which had a budget of £8.5 million. He was also responsible for supervising staff and street lighting in the Medway tunnel.

Lesley Bates, prosecuting, said the total sum it was alleged Wood received was almost £58,000, but the amount was disputed and sentence was to be on the basis of about £37,600. The corruption charge related to a Kia Sedona car, bought for him in February 2003.

Wood raised inflated invoices to pay PDW about the same amount as the car value, for work that was not done at all or was inadequate.

When interviewed by police, Wood said he borrowed the money for the car and treated it as a “friendship thing”, but he had never repaid the amount.

Whitehead said he was pestered into buying the car. Wood, he said, had a reputation for making contractors’ lives a misery and if he did not pay for the car he could forget about council work.

Miss Bates said Millen’s involvement was revealed as a result of the investigation into Wood, but he had repaid the £1,504 in full.

A Medway Council spokesperson said after the hearing: “We identified the problem and helped police with the investigation. We’re happy that the issue has been dealt with.”

FULL STORY IN MONDAY'S MEDWAY MESSENGER