Four men who fraudulently hoodwinked banks into lending them money to fund the rollout of fibre broadband networks in sewers have been sentenced to a total of 44 years in prison.

On Friday afternoon, judge Gledhill QC—speaking at Southwark Crown Court—said that the evidence against George Alexander, Stephen Dartnell, Simon Mundy, and Carl Cumiskey was “compelling.” He added:

Not one of you has accepted dishonest involvement in these offences. Of course, you have each accepted that with hindsight that fraud was committed, but have sought to exonerate yourselves.

One of the least attractive aspects of the case has been the attempts of each of you to blame others, including each other, for what happened.

Dartnell and Alexander, both of Total Asset Finance (TAF), Cumiskey, who was the former finance director of H2O Networks, and Mundy of KBC Lease—the UK wing of Belgian bank KBC, were each found guilty by a jury following a trial that lasted over five months.