THE prosecution in the trial of two men accused of a fraud conspiracy has started its closing arguments.

Mark Woodbridge, 42, and Nigel Horn, 58, are accused of plotting to defraud the shareholders of Torex Retail, which had offices in Witney and Banbury.

Woodbridge, of Kineton, Warwickshire, denies three charges of false accounting and two charges of conspiracy to defraud.

Horn, of Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire, is accused of one count of conspiracy to defraud.

The company’s former chairman Robert Loosemore and chief executive Christopher Moore have both admitted two charges of conspiracy to defraud.

Gibson Grenfell, prosecuting at Oxford Crown Court yesterday, said because of the two men’s pleas there was no doubt a conspiracy to defraud had existed at the firm.

He said the pleas were important because those agreements to defraud shareholders were in existence and not in dispute.

He said Woodbridge and Horn had been involved in drafting and revising documents Moore and Loosemore now accepted were fraudulent.

The trial continues.