Ex-Serco boss caught up in tagging scandal to head John Menzies

Both Serco and G4S were temporarily banned from bidding for Government work as a result. Both companies later agreed multi-million pound settlements with the Government. Announcing the appointment, Menzies chairman Iain Napier denied Mr Stafford denied it was a risky move.

“I don’t think it is [a risk],” Mr Napier said. “Our conclusion on Jeremy has been on his experience which is that he is really fit for the role. We did extensive due diligence and referencing which was all extremely positive.

“He’s got great business to business experience, great contracting experience and most of businesses are contract based.”

He said the gap in Mr Stafford’s CV since leaving Serco was actually a “positive” for Menzies.

“The gap was an agreement with Serco that he was unable to work for 12 months,” Mr Napier said. “It’s a positive, I believe: we have probably been able to get a quality chief executive who we might not have if he had still been working.”

He said the decline in Menzies’ shares – down 1.6pc as he spoke to the Telegraph – was not connected to the appointment.

Menzies last had a chief executive overseeing both arms of its business in 2007, with individual heads running each unit overseen by the chairman since. Mr Napier said that the time was now right return to the previous structure as the business was “in good shape... generating huge amounts of cash from its distribution business and Jeremy has all the skills we need at this stage of growth”.

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