The founder of a Norwich brewery has been disqualified from being a company director for four years to protect the public after he was jailed for committing fraud.

Patrick Fisher, 39, was sent to prison after he pleaded guilty to two fraud charges, including one which saw him submit false invoices.

Fisher, of School Avenue, Thorpe St Andrew, who was previously a director of Norwich's Redwell Brewery, admitted one count of fraud by making a false representation to Russell Evans between January 1, 2015, and January 31, 2017, when he claimed to own brewing equipment which he did not.

Fisher had also admitted making a false representation to Rita Turnbull between May 1, 2015, and October 30, 2017, by submitting false invoices for work done at the Lord Rosebery pub in Norwich, where Fisher had been a tenant.

He was jailed for a year last month after he admitted the charges but was back at Norwich Crown Court on Thursday (December 12) for a hearing over whether or not he should be disqualified as a director.

Lori Tucker, prosecuting, said the application, under the Company Directors' Disqualification Act, was being made after he pleaded guilty to the two counts of fraud on the first day of his trial last month.

Mrs Tucker said the Crown conceded that it was not the most serious category of offending nor was it the case that Fisher had been dishonest throughout.

The court heard that the Crown had been seeking a disqualification for Fisher in the region of five years.

Andrew Nuttall, representing Fisher, said any disqualification should be at the lower end.

Banning Fisher from becoming a company director for the next four years, Judge Katharine Moore said the offences were committed while he was in a management position and added that the "public does need protection from you for a period".

As previously reported, Fisher was jailed for the offences which Judge Moore said were committed against the background of "cavalier business practice".

Fisher founded Redwell Brewery in 2013 and left the business in 2017.