Sentencing in £20million fraud
case
Four men, who were part of a conspiracy to steal over £20million
from a high street bank were sentenced to a total of more than
eighteen years at Southwark Crown Court today.
Ian Clark from Paisley, Darren Lee and Martin Williams both from
Liverpool, worked together to defraud a branch of NatWest in the
North West over a May bank holiday weekend in 2004.
Clark paid worthless cheques into a UK company bank account,
Britanniacity Ltd, held by Lee and Williams.
The cheques subsequently passed through the clearing system and the
majority of the funds ended up in an account in Riga, Latvia.
Further attempts were made to move the stolen funds to an account
in Dubai, UAE.
The group created a large number of documents to make it appear as
though the money was linked to a business deal for 38,000 mobile
phone handsets.
A fourth man, Lee Quincey from Ashton-under-Lyne pleaded guilty to
conspiracy to defraud in October 2007 after his fingerprints were
found on a number of the cheque and credit slips paid in at the
bank.
Jonathan Quinn, from Nottingham, who was responsible for the
Latvian bank account pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder money
back in September 2007. He is currently serving 18 years for
drugs offences and was given three years imprisonment in relation
to this case.
Williams, Lee and Clark were all found guilty at Southwark Crown
Court last Wednesday (5 March 2008).
The four were sentenced to:
Quincey was sentenced to five years and 11 months.
Williams and Lee were both sentenced to five years and nine
months.
Clark was sentenced to three years.
A total of 16 suspects have been charged with conspiracy to defraud
and supplementary offences to date. Because of the number of
defendants involved it was necessary to split the case into two
separate trials. Today’s verdicts mark the end of the first
trial.
Of the £20 million that the gang attempted to steal, 95% of the
monies either never left NatWest or have subsequently been
recovered by City of London Police, NatWest and its overseas agency
banks.
City Police officer DC Mick Case, said: “The City of London Police
is the lead force in the UK for fraud. These results should send
out the message to anyone considering engaging in any large scale
fraud in the UK that by working together with our partnership
agencies we have the tools and resources to bring offenders to
justice.”
Jonathan Shawcross, Director Group Security and Fraud at NatWest’s
parent RBS said: “Financial crime does not pay. Our systems
for detecting fraudulent activity are more sophisticated than
they’ve ever been and as this case demonstrates the police will
pursue those who perpetuate fraud relentlessly. We have been
delighted with the way in which working in partnership with City of
London Police we have been able to contribute to the evidence which
resulted in these verdicts.”
Ian Clark, 37, from Neilston Road, Paisley
Darren Lee, 35, from Caldy Road, Aintree, Liverpool
Martin Williams, 29, from Bailey Drive, Bootle, Liverpool
Jonathan Quinn, 48, formerly of Darnhall Crescent, Nottingham
Lee Quincey, 41, from Ashton-under-Lyne, Manchester