£30,000 missing landlord pub closes

A pub whose landlord disappeared with £30,000 stolen from a customers’ Christmas savings club has closed.

Brewery chain Enterprise Inns said that the Royal Oak in Shrewton near Salisbury has temporarily stopped trading.

A spokesman for Enterprise Inns said: “We are currently reviewing various options for the Royal Oak following its recent closure, but no decision has been made at this stage.”

Former landlord Malcolm Levesconte is believed to have jumped to his death from a cross-Channel ferry after stealing the £30,000.

Levesconte was last seen on 9 December boarding a ferry for France and his body was found in the sea off Dover on Christmas Eve.

Wiltshire Police said it is investigating the possibility that Levesconte used the money from the fund to prop up his failing business.

Following the theft and Levsconte’s disappearance around 60 local families were facing a bleak Christmas because their money was gone; some families had up to £7,000 in the fund.

However hundreds of people showed that the Christmas spirit is alive and well and made donations to replace the money. It took just four days for the Christmas fund to be replaced with donations coming from Australia, South Africa and the US as well as one anonymous donation of £10,000.