VAR quintet enter 'not guilty' plea

Five employees from Quadsys appeared at Oxford Crown Court over ongoing fraud saga

The case against five men from Oxfordshire-based VAR Quadsys is set to go to trial in September after they all entered a ‘not guilty' plea.

Standing in the dock at Oxford Crown Court yesterday in a ‘plea and case management' hearing, was managing director Paul Cox, along with Alistair Barnard, Jon Townsend, Steve Davies and Paul Streeter, all of whom are alleged to be involved the attempted theft of data and pricing information from a rival firm's database.

The individuals were arrested last March by Thames Valley Police (TVP) under charges of "conspiracy with others to commit computer misuse offence; unauthorised access with intent to commit or facilitate commission of further offences; conspiracy to steal from another; conspiracy to enter into / be concerned in the acquisition / retention / use or control of criminal property".

Originally the group were released on bail last summer, and were supposed to give their pleas in January, but was delayed due to the defence not being ready.

However, despite the full trial being set for September, there will be another court appearance on 6 May at 3pm, after the defence made an application to drop the count of unauthorised access with intent, the court confirmed to CRN.

Quadsys counts Sophos, Dell and HP among its vendor partners.