A Midland businessman has been charged in connection with the alleged theft of £7 million from Birmingham University.
Father Paul Sadler, 49, and former colleague Christine Eggleton, 51, are alleged to have siphoned off the money from Birmingham Research Development Ltd (BRDL), a lucrative trading subsidiary of the university.
The company is based on the Edgbaston campus and sells the university’s “intellectual property” around the world, including academic inventions and research.
Mr Sadler (pictured), BRDL’s former managing director, is accused of stealing around £5 million while Ms Eggleton, a former secretary and bookkeeper at BRDL, is alleged to have stolen more than £2 million.
West Midlands Crown Prosecution Service has confirmed the charges.
Nigel Reader, special casework lawyer with the CPS’s complex casework unit, said: “Following a major fraud investigation by the police, I have carefully reviewed all of the evidence that has been submitted to me and I have decided there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest to charge both Paul Sadler and Christine Eggleton with theft and conspiracy to defraud Birmingham Research and Development Limited of in excess £7 million.”
The pair will appear before Birmingham Magistrates’ Court tomorrow for a first hearing.
Mr Sadler, of Hallow, Worcestershire, was considered BRDL’s public figurehead and a high profile representative of the university’s “intellectual property” enterprise.
