British music festival STANDON CALLING is to go ahead as planned, even though the founder is heading to jail for conning his former employers into bankrolling the event.
Alexander Trenchard worked for U.K. supermarket giant Tesco in 2002 and was handed a company credit card, which he used to cover costs of the festival.
His fraudulent activity cost the retailer $532,00 (£355,000) was discovered in an audit last year (10).
Trenchard pleaded guilty to charges of theft and fraud, and on Thursday (03Feb11) he was sentenced to 30 months behind bars, despite his aristocratic parents paying back the amount in full.
Festival director Graham MACVoy has now confirmed the event, which has seen headline performances from Florence and the MAChine and Mumford & Sons, is still going ahead as planned.
He says, "I know that Alex very much regrets his actions and feels great remorse for the distress he has caused, but the festival is about more than just one person. The team have been preparing for this year's festival and Alex's absence for a number of months. Standon Calling 2010 was a resounding success and we are building on that. Our Early Bird tickets for 2011 sold out in half the time they did last year. Excitement is building and we are about to unveil our theme and make our first line-up announcement."