Prosecutors Continue Hunt For Assets Of 'Country Life Couple' Convicted Of £5.9M Scam

"Ron 'n Reg": Lansley & Meddes

Prosecutors were back in court today seeking details of an inheritance received by a socialite who gained notoriety for her role in a £5.9m black market veterinary drug scam.

Self-styled Princess Diana look-alike Regine Lansley, 64, a popular member of the equestrian community, who describes herself as an expert horse-rider and shot was sentenced to 20 months imprisonment in 2011.

Husband Ronald Meddes, 75, a disgraced ex-Lloyds trader also well-known in horse circles, received 28 months for the "industrial scale" operation.

Both are now subject to Proceeds of Crime Act proceedings, which were adjourned at Croydon Crown Court to a future date to be fixed by the parties.

The court heard the couple's eight-bedroom French farmhouse has been seized by the tax authorities in that country, but it's value will not meet the outstanding debt.

The prosecution say Lansley is not co-operating with the investigation, in particular with the details of the inheritance from her late sister, which she received in 2012.

They are seeking a court order to reveal the details of the estate and Lansley's assets and she and Meddes were given until March 10 to reply to the order.

Regine, an actress and model who is available for hire as a Di look-alike, shows no modesty in her online profile describing herself as "charismatic" with an obvious "wow factor" and is constantly told by admirers: "I wish I could be like you."

An 1800-strong UK customer list was seized during the DEFRA raid on May 15 2007 on the French farmhouse 80 miles outside Paris - La Petite Ferme - owned by the couple known to friends as 'Ronnie and Reggie.'

The property was her fiftieth birthday present from Meddes.

Judge Nicholas Ainley told Meddes: "You did very well in France, enjoying the country life, the hunts and the status you had in a very pleasant house and lived as a man of wealth.

"Your greed was such that after the raid you moved across the border to Belgium and after another raid you moved on undaunted and carried on while on bail.

"You could not resist trying to make money from this trade, you found a niche in the market and you exploited it."

The judge told Lansley: "You are an independent-minded woman and what you did, you did with your eyes open and carried on after you were arrested."

Prosecutor Mr. Andrew Marshall told the court: "It is the largest known attack on the  UK veterinary system and the seizure of goods in France represented the largest seizure of illegal veterinary products in Europe."

The customer list included farms, stables, kennels, hunts, shoots and veterinary practices and the medicines supplied included anti-inflammatories, anabolic steroids, tranquillisers, antibiotics, sedatives, painkillers and other miscellaneous products administered to horses, household pets and farm animals.

"They illegally sold vast quantities of veterinary medicine to customers in the UK," he added, revealing 130 cubic metres of black market products were seized from a three-storey barn conversion warehouse that also housed offices and a team of migrant workers.

"This is a highly-regulated area because there can be a great deal of damage done to animals from the misuse of medication if you do not know where it was made, how it was made and the precise ingredients," added Mr. Marshall.

The married couple evaded EU regulations by lying that the medicines, imported from all over the world from counties including Australia and India, were for export-only to Russia.

There was a threefold price mark up on some India-imported medicines and investigators discovered paperwork showing total sales of £13.5m over a six-year period.

Such was the scale of their illicit operation some medicines enjoyed the largest market share in the UK over legitimate products and just one of their delivery companies transported 8.5 tons of black-market drugs into the UK during a two-year period. 

The couple immediately restarted their illegal trade a month later from Belgium, covering their tracks with a string of foreign bank accounts in countries such as Cyprus and Malta, companies registered in Belize and Moscow-based company directors.

This was shut-down after another raid on October 2 2008, but the prosecution discovered the couple continued selling illegal medicines throughout 2009 and 2010 via a Hungary-registered company despite being subject to police bail.

"All these products go through the black market," explained Mr. Marshall. "They are being distributed by people not licensed to do it so others can administer them to animals who are not authorised to do so.

"It becomes a bit of a free-for-all and the food chain is placed at risk as well.

"These animals and their welfare are being placed at risk and the only reason for it is legitimate veterinary medicines are more expensive than smuggling these into the country or buying them over the internet."

Convicted fraudster Meddes, of Egg House, Charing, Kent pleaded guilty to nineteen counts of unlawfully supplying unauthorised veterinary medicines and Lansley, of Stadium Street, West Brompton pleaded guilty to two counts.