Body Shop insider dealer is fined

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An ex-computer technician at The Body Shop has been fined for insider dealing after hacking into management emails which warned of poor trading.

John Shevlin borrowed £29,000 - more than his annual salary - then took a "short" position on the firm's shares, betting that they would fall in value.

He made a profit of £38,472 when Body Shop shares declined after the firm announced its results.

Mr Shevlin was fined £85,000 after a Financial Services Authority probe.

'Hardship risk'

Margaret Cole, director of enforcement at the Financial Services Authority (FSA), said that Mr Shevlin "deliberately set out to obtain highly sensitive and valuable information to which he was not entitled".

"He abused the trust placed in him by his employers and misused his technical skills to gain a financial advantage over other market users," she added.

"Firms must take steps to protect market sensitive information," she continued.

"Where individuals circumvent these protections they should expect to face significant financial or other sanctions, whether or not they are approved by the FSA.”

Short-selling occurs when an investor borrows company stock owned by another investor, then sells the shares in the market, hoping the price will fall.

They then buy the shares back at a lower price, pocketing the difference.

Mr Shevlin could have faced "serious financial hardship" had the decision gone against him, the City watchdog added.

The Body Shop was founded by the entrepreneur and campaigner Dame Anita Roddick who died in September last year.

The firm was sold to cosmetics giant L'Oreal in 2006 for £652m.