‘A landlord who built an outbuilding and converted it into six small flats without planning permission has been ordered to pay more than £280,000.’
Local Government Lawyer, 11th November 2014
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘Martin Hickman, who was convicted in relation to the illegal sale and supply of medicinal products in 2009, has been extradited from Spain and jailed for 10 years after failure to pay a confiscation order made against him in 2012 at Southwark Crown Court.’
Crown Prosecution Service, 2nd October 2014
Source: www.cps.gov.uk
‘A former police community support officer (PCSO) has avoided jail after he admitted tipping off the Sun that supermodel Naomi Campbell was in custody over an allegation of assault.’
The Guardian, 18th September 2014
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘Following extensive work both in the UK and Dubai, the new CPS Proceeds of Crime Service (CPSPOC) in London, working closely with the recently deployed CPS Asset Recovery Advisor in Dubai, has secured what is believed to be the first ever successful enforcement of a UK confiscation order in the UAE. The UK has recovered over £300,000 from the sale of an apartment in Dubai Marina belonging to a convicted British criminal.’
Crown Prosecution Service, 21th August 2014
Source: www.cps.gov.uk
‘A “retired” high-profile criminal has lost a high court battle over how much he has to pay back from his days of crime.’
The Guardian, 11th August 2014
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Regina v Ahmad and another: Regina v Fields and others: [2014] UKSC 36; [2014] WLR (D) 264
‘Where the court, in confiscation proceedings, found that the benefit of the relevant criminal conduct had been jointly obtained, each defendant was liable for the whole of the amount of the benefit and no apportionment was to be made between the co-defendants. However, to avoid double recovery by the state, where there was finding of joint obtaining, so that the confiscation order in respect of each defendant was made for the value of the whole benefit, the order would contain the condition that it would not to be enforced to the extent that a sum had been recovered by way of satisfaction of another confiscation order made in relation to the same joint benefit.’
WLR Daily, 18th June 2014
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Supreme Court, 18th June 2014
‘The Defendant was convicted of 8 counts of carrying on a consumer credit business without a licence (Section 39 Consumer Credit Act 1974 (“CCA”) ) (“illegal money lending”) and was sent to prison. Birmingham City Council whose team has vast experience in and has conduct of most prosecutions in this area of work applied under Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (“POCA”) to confiscate the Defendant’s property and in particular a house he had purchased with the proceeds of his business. The case was not a “lifestyle” case.’
Full story (Word)
Six Pump Court, 12th May 2014
Source: www.6pumpcourt.co.uk
‘New offence to be announced in the Queen’s Speech will make it an offence to turn a blind eye to criminal behaviour on your property – with a punishment of up to five years in jail.’
Daily Telegraph, 3rd June 2014
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
‘Offenders are choosing to spend extra time in jail rather than pay confiscation orders and the sanctions for such non-payment do not work, the Public Accounts Committee has said.’
Local Government Lawyer, 24th March 2014
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
Regina v Elsayed; [2014] EWCA Crim 333; [2014] WLR (D) 125
‘For the purposes of confiscation proceedings the market value of drugs might vary depending for example on the time at which the drugs were obtained or the capacity or role of the person obtaining them and a judge was entitled to make findings of fact as to what a defendant would do with those drugs, ie sell them as a dealer at street level. Such findings of fact necessarily bore on the value of the property obtained by the defendant.’
WLR Daily, 4th March 2014
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
‘The London Fire Brigade has obtained a confiscation order for the first time, against a landlord who was also fined for breaches of fire safety laws.’
Local Government Lawyer, 10th March 2014
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
Regina v Wright (Robert) [2014] WLR (D) 84
‘Where an insurance company paid a defendant’s solicitors’ fees, for which he would otherwise have been liable, in connection with a false insurance claim he had made, he obtained a pecuniary advantage as a result of or in connection with his false claim, for the purposes of section 76(5) of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. Therefore, by section 76(4), those fees formed part of the defendant’s benefit from his criminal conduct for the purposes of any confiscation order made under the 2002 Act.’
WLR Daily, 19th February 2014
‘The headline in The Guardian on Wednesday 29th January 2014 (“Metropolitan Police accused of acting on behalf of big business”) would undoubtedly have caused a stir amongst private prosecutors, public prosecutors, the police, the Home Office and others interested in the issue of commercial organisations seeking redress in the criminal courts in relation to crimes committed against them. The story, based upon observations made by the Lord Chief Justice in a recent Court of Appeal case, queried the efficacy of private prosecutions brought in such circumstances and – quoting labour MP Tom Watson and Jenny Jones, a London assembly member for the Green party – suggested that they represented the “…creeping privatisation of policing…”. The former spoke of “…two tier-policing where corporate interests can buy the time of the police…” whilst the latter complained, “I hate the thought that if you are rich you can buy more justice than if you are poor…”. And yet at a time when funding for public bodies – and in particular prosecuting authorities – is under such severe strain, it is inevitable that there will be a growing demand for the private sector to operate in areas that were once solely or mainly inhabited by the state. Private prosecutions are here to stay – that much is clear from the case concerned. But are the criticisms levelled against them fair? And what is the real impact of the case on private prosecutions, confiscation and compensation and the very real problem of fraud on commerce? ‘
Six Pump Court, 5th February 2014
Source: www.6pumpcourt.co.uk
‘It is easy to forget or overlook the fact that the Criminal Procedure & Investigations Act 1996 applies equally to confiscation proceedings as it does to the substantive criminal proceedings that have resulted in the defendant being convicted in the first place (something that prosecutors do themselves on a regular basis and only appreciate its significance when the contents of their own website are brought to their attention, see “Chapter 21: Disclosure of Unused Material Created in the Course of Financial Investigations”).’
Full story (Word)
Six Pump Court, 29th January 2014
Source: www.6pumpcourt.co.uk
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