Why has Lawrence Jones been secretly locked up for almost a year?

It can now be revealed that UKFast founder and multimillionaire Lawrence Jones has been secretly behind bars for almost a year. Jones, 55, of Hale Barns, was found guilty of sexual assault in January this year following a trial at Manchester Crown Court, but reporting restrictions in relation to a further trial meant the first conviction could not be reported.

Following a second trial in November, jurors found Jones guilty of drugging and raping two women in the 1990s. Today, November 23, the presiding judge lifted the reporting restrictions on the first trial, and it can now be reported that Jones has been remanded in custody for over 10 months.

At a bail application hearing in April following his first conviction, his legal team offered sureties totalling £1.4m - plus a private company to provide a number of security measures including a chaperone - to ensure he would remain under ‘virtual house arrest’ if he were released on bail.

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Eleanor Laws KC, acting on behalf of Mr Jones, said his wife, four children and work colleagues ‘rely on him’, adding that his incarceration had had a ‘devastating effect’ on them. She went on to say that his companies had made 19 people redundant in his absence.

Mrs Laws KC added that by the time of her client’s second trial in November 2023, he will have been in custody for ten months, the equivalent of a 20 month jail sentence. She said the ‘custody threshold has been passed’ but went on that the final sentence may be less than he would have served