Shropshire businessman battles to clear his name after alleged movie con
A businessman jailed over an alleged £800,000 con that sucked investors into ploughing cash into children's movies, is now battling to clear his name.
David Murray Griffiths, 51, styled himself "Britain's answer to Steven Spielberg" as he took £800,000 from movie investors, prosecutors claimed.
Judge Roderick Henderson, who handed him a three-year jail term in June last year, said he "got carried away with the enthusiasm of his scheme".
"He lost control - with the result that the businesses were developed at reckless speed".
The judge said Griffiths, of New Road, Oreton, near Ludlow, had told "significant lies to potential investors".
Griffiths was jailed at Birmingham Crown Court after he was convicted of one count of fraud and three of procuring the execution of a valuable security.
Prosecutors claimed Griffiths exaggerated his wealth and his show business links to dupe wealthy investors.
They claimed he used "smoke and mirrors" to con victims into investing in seven children's TV animation shows, which he claimed could sweep the world.
But only one, dubbed Boblins, was ever made, and it later bombed when it aired in the UK in 2006.
Other would-be hits, such as Odd Jobbers, Monster School and Galactic Circus, vanished without trace.
Griffiths, however, denied any wrong-doing and his case reached London's Appeal Court yesterday as his QC, Simon Russell-Flint, challenged the "safety" of his convictions.
He has been granted permission to appeal.
And he leapt the first legal hurdle when Lady Justice Hallett, sitting with Mr Justice MacDuff and Mr Justice Dove, granted Griffiths permission to appeal.
She said the case had caused the Appeal Court judges a "degree of concern".
Griffiths' challenge focuses on claims that he should never have faced some of the charges which ended up before the jury.
He is also pursuing an appeal against the length of his sentence.
No date was fixed for the full hearing of his appeal.
