‘Not that anyone should need reminding, but the King’s Bench Division of the High Court in the case of DPP v Bijou [2024] EWHC 2997 has recently made clear that there is life yet in the age-old idiom of ‘crime doesn’t pay’.’
St Ives Chambers, 17th December 2025
Source: stiveschambers.co.uk
‘A detectorist who stole an estimated £3m worth of Viking treasure has been sentenced to a further five years and three months in prison after failing to pay back over £600,000.’
Crown Prosecution Service, 12th September 2024
Source: www.cps.gov.uk
‘Today (11 July 2024) at Margate Magistrates’ Court, Gheorghe Nica, 46, was ordered to serve a further eleven and half months imprisonment after failing to payback £65,157.65 which he was ordered to pay in a proceeds of crime confiscation hearing. All of the Confiscation Order monies recovered from Nica, which a Judge has determined is his available assets, will be paid by way of compensation to the families of the 39 victims.’
Crown Prosecution Service, 11th July 2024
Source: www.cps.gov.uk
‘A rogue trader who faked having a brain tumour to avoid justice has been ordered to pay his victims more than £56,000.’
BBC News, 10th July 2024
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘A councillor in Gloucester has been ordered to pay £49,823.36 for selling puppies without a licence.’
Local Government Lawyer, 18th June 2024
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘A landowner who benefited from chopping down a protected woodland has been fined £1,500 and handed an £11,280 confiscation order.’
BBC News, 14th June 2024
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘Grace Khaile considers the Court of Appeal’s latest judgments on delay in confiscation proceedings. The two-year limit in section 14(5) of the Proceeds of Crime Act after conviction for the determination of confiscation proceedings appears to be no more than notional.’
Mountford Chambers, 23rd April 2024
Source: www.mountfordchambers.com
‘A former Ministry of Defence (MoD) official has been jailed after taking £70,000 in secret payments and gifts.’
BBC news, 13th April 2024
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘Today at Chelmsford Crown Court, a Confiscation Order of £22,305 was given to Stephen Bear, to retrieve the ill-gotten gains he accumulated from publishing explicit content to a subscription site without the consent of those involved. The judge has ordered that the victim, Georgia Harrison, be compensated to the value of £5,000, which will be paid out of any monies paid towards the Confiscation Order.’
Crown Prosecution Service, 28th March 2024
Source: www.cps.gov.uk
‘R v Thompson [2023] EWCA Crim 1244, saw the Court of Appeal deal with the issue of how to approach beneficial interests in property where the property is in the sole name of a defendant’s spouse.’
Park Square Barristers, 14th November 2023
Source: www.parksquarebarristers.co.uk
‘More than 200 people who were conned into buying useless investments have received payouts from the money recovered from the fraudster.’
Crown Prosecution Service, 18th December 2023
Source: www.cps.gov.uk
‘Brent Council has secured a £424,000 confiscation order against a landlord who rented out a large shed as five flats.’
Local Government Lawyer, 11th December 2023
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘The landlords of a dangerously overcrowded east London flat that suffered a deadly fire in March have pleaded guilty to a total of nine criminal charges.’
The Guardian, 28th November 2023
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘A convicted people smuggler, responsible for the manslaughter of 39 people who died in the back of a lorry in Essex, has today (24 September 2023) been ordered to pay a total of £65,157.65 to victims’ families through a Confiscation Order made by the court today.’
Crown Prosecution Service, 24th November 2023
Source: www.cps.gov.uk
‘Mohammed Afzal who was convicted as part of a conspiracy to produce commercial quantities of illegal medical drugs has been ordered to pay back millions of pounds or face 10 extra years in prison.’
Crown Prosecution Service, 17th November 2023
Source: www.cps.gov.uk
‘Two ringleaders of a plot to smuggle £11 million of cocaine into the UK hidden in a shipment of bananas have each been jailed for 18 years.’
The Independent, 1st November 2023
Source: www.independent.co.uk
‘Manchester City Council has secured the confiscation of £174,074 from a company that owned a property used as an illegal shisha café in breach of a planning enforcement notice.’
Local Government Lawyer, 10th May 2023
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘Relatives of a man at the centre of one of the UK’s largest cocaine busts have had their homes seized by the courts.’
BBC News, 24th March 2023
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘A property dealer jailed for one of the UK’s biggest mortgage frauds a decade ago has been ordered to pay a further £92,500 – money which was recovered from a settlement over a donation to a private school.’
Law Society’s Gazette, 17th March 2023
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘An accountant who was jailed for defrauding the NHS, companies and individuals, has been ordered to pay back nearly £240,000 and faces an additional 20 months in prison if he fails to pay.’
Crown Prosecution Service, 17th January 2023
Source: www.cps.gov.uk
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