Trio Appear On £40m Electrical Contract 'Ponzi' Charges

L to R: Saunders, Steinberg, Strubel

Three men, accused of a £40m ponzi-style plot involving lucrative electrical contracts with prestigious hotels and the Olympic Park have appeared for the first time at City of London Magistrates' Court.

They are: Jolan Marc Saunders, 36, (pic.l.) of  Almonds, Avenue, Buckhurst Hill, Essex; Spencer Mitchell Steinberg, 43, (pic.mid.) of Lodge End, Radlett, Hertfordshire and Michael Strubel, 51, (pic.r.) of Princes Manor, Royal Drive, New Southgate.

The defendants were charged at Hatfield Police Station on March 5 by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), which investigated Saunders Electrical Wholesalers Limited.

It is alleged investors were falsely convinced the company had high-value electrical contracts with blue chip hotel chains and with the Olympic Park's Athletes Village.

Favourable interest rates were promised to investors who put money into the company.

All three have been charged with conspiring together between January 1, 2006 and May 31, 2010 to defraud various companies.

Saunders alone faces one count of contravening a company director disqualification order made on January 1, 2001 by running Saunders Electrical Wholesalers Limited between between December 19, 2008 and May 31, 2010.

All three defendants were bailed to Southwark Crown Court for a preliminary hearing on March 19 on condition that they reside at their recorded addresses, surrender their passports and do not communicate with each other.

They were all arrested in December 2010 when the SFO, assisted by officers from the Serious Organised Crime Agency, Met, Essex and Hertfordshire, raided five residential addresses and one commercial premises during Operation Canon.

Fake Death Charges: Couple In Court

A couple accused of faking the husband's death in a £1.5m life insurance scam appeared for the first time at City of London Magistrates' Court yesterday.

It is alleged they falsely reported the cause of death as brain fever during the husband's visit to India and obtained £10,000.

They are: Sanjay Kumar, 44, of Northcotts Long Elms Close, Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire and his wife, mother-of-three Anju Kumar, 45, of Hempstead Road, Watford.

Both face three charges of fraud by false representation in that on December 15, 2011, with intent to make gains of £250,000 and two sums of £450,000 in relation to three policies, represented that Mr. Kumar had died on November 25 that year.

They face three similar charges of fraud in relation to a £5,789 pension scheme, a £1133 ISA and death benefit of £9,481.

Both were bailed until May 7 for committal on condition they reside at their recorded addresses, surrender their passports and Mr. Kumar alone must report weekly to Watford Police Station.

Loan Agent Dodges Prison

An agent for a credit company, who admitted defrauding the business by creating fake loans, escaped prison with a suspended sentence today.

Denise Hanshaw, 47, of Biggin Hill, Upper Norwood was sentenced at Croydon Crown Court (pictured) to eighteen months imprisonment, suspended for two years.

She had been committed for sentencing after pleading guilty before magistrates.

Hanshaw was charged with fraud by abuse of position, namely that between May 20, 2009 and January 10, 2011 while an agent for Provident Personal Credit she persuaded customers to take out loans in their own names, which were for her benefit.

She was also charged with fraud by false representation between the same dates, namely lying to Provident Personal Credit that names on loan applications were genuine people, with intent to make money for herself.

Cat Burglar Got Claws Into London's Elite

Millionaires Row - Moreton Terrace, Pimlico

A 'Quality Street' cat burglar, who targeted properties in London's most exclusive neighbourhoods, stealing £25,000 worth of loot from twelve homes during a three-week blitz, has been jailed for two years.

Industrial floorer Daniel Normon, 27, of May Blossom Walk, Spalding, Lincolnshire booked himself into a hostel as a base for his crime-wave in the boroughs of Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea.

He either forced open roof hatches to the unoccupied properties and descended through attics or climbed up scaffolding during construction work to break into the houses and flats, some worth in the multi-millions.

Normon pleaded guilty at Isleworth Crown Court to burgling a terraced house and flat in Oakley Street, Chelsea; a flat in Ebury Street, Pimlico; a fourth-floor flat in Linden Gardens, Kensington; a three-storey townhouse in Moreton Terrace, Pimlico and a flat in Danvers Street Chelsea.

He asked for six similar domestic burglaries in the same area to be taken into consideration, plus a theft when he was confronted in a garage by the home owner, having stolen car keys from the property.

Prosecutor Mr. Olu Philips told the court all the offences were committed between November 15 and December 3, last year, with Normon identified after leaving either his fingerprints or DNA at the scene.

He took a laptop, cash and jewellery from the first property after forcing first a roof and then loft hatch and using an identical method burgled a £3m property in the same road, taking cash, jewellery, two ipads and soiling the attic before leaving.

Again breaking in via the roof hatch to the Ebury Street home he took a camera, bracelet and apple mac computer, then clambered up scaffolding to break through a window at the fourth property, taking cash and a watch.

Normon climbed scaffolding at the five-bedroom townhouse to break in via the roof hatch and took valuables including the victim's late grandfather's watch and in his final raid took cash and passports after smashing through the ceiling.

Three days later police arrested him at the hostel and over half of the stolen property was recovered.

“He feels a great deal of remorse and regret,” said Normon's lawyer Mr. Dan Darnbrough. “He has been remanded in custody for three months and it is the first time he has been in prison.

“He now knows what it feels like and is looking forward to a fresh start on his release.

“He incredibly regrets these offences and will not do anything like this again in a million years.

“He owns his own flat and has been in full-time work since he left school at the age of sixteen. He was a normal man who went to work and socialised with friends at the weekend.

“The motivation for these offences were entirely financial and born out of desperation,” added Mr. Darnbrough. “He split up with his partner in September last year and was still very much in love with her.

“She told him she was struggling financially and he decided to give her his three thousand pounds in savings and then she asked for more money, threatening to turn to prostitution.

“People have done many stupid things for love and Mr. Normon decided to help his ex-partner and felt he had little option, but to stop her taking the course of action she threatened.

“He is clearly not a professional burglar and did not know what he was doing, often leaving behind a hat or a scarf at the premises.”

Judge Phillip Matthews told Normon: “The impact on home owners and occupiers is great and for some very long-lasting.

“You repeatedly targeted these homes during the day while the occupants were not present and you defecated at one of the properties, leaving excrement, and you stole high-value and sentimental items.”

More Than A Sugar High: Sweets-Shaped Cannabis Lands Smuggler In Sticky Situation

A cannabis smuggler, caught stepping off a flight from Jamaica with £90,000 worth of the drug disguised as sweets, has been jailed for twenty months.

Lorry driver Anthony Gordon, 50, of Brisbane Road, Ilford pleaded guilty to smuggling thirty kilos of cannabis at Gatwick Airport on Christmas Eve, last year.

Prosecutor Miss Shekinah Anson told Croydon Crown Court the defendant was stopped by UK Border Agency officers as he tried to connect with a Manchester flight and his luggage searched.

“Food items were found shaped like sweets and tested positive for cannabis.

“In a statement he said he was kidnapped and blindfolded in Jamaica by a gang of seven masked armed men and was ordered to carry the drugs or he and his family would be in danger.”

Gordon's lawyer Adam James said: “That account is not an issue he wishes to put forward and he accepts his responsibility.

“His financial difficulties got worse and he was offered the opportunity of going to Jamaica.

“He turned a blind eye to the offer of a free holiday and once there the true cost of the holiday became clear.”

The father-of-three was £8,000 in debt when he agreed to smuggle the drugs, added the lawyer. “He could have turned it down, but thought it was an opportunity to clear his debts.”

Judge Stephen Waller told Gordon: “You had two suitcases that contained food items and it is clear they concealed cannabis and customs were suspicious.

“I read the statement of your kidnap and blindfolding by masked armed men with incredulity.

“You got into debt and were prepared to take the risk and I will treat you as a courier motivated by financial gain.”

Smuggler Canned For £100K Fruit 'N Veg Cannabis Seizure

A cannabis smuggler, who stepped off a Jamaica flight with £100,000 worth of the drug hidden inside forty-four cans of assorted fruit and veg, has been jailed for twenty months.

Patrick Wilton Walters, 47, of Manstone Road, Cricklewood pleaded guilty to importing twenty-two kilos of cannabis at Gatwick Airport on December 10, last year.

Croydon Crown Court heard Walters was stopped by UK Border Agency officers, who searched his suitcase and found the drugs after piercing one of the cans.

“He should not have got involved in this manner and was simply a courier,” said Mr. Keith Goodhand, defending. 

“He was visiting his mother and girlfriend in Jamaica and his girlfriend said she wanted to travel to the UK with him.

“He needed to raise some cash and became involved, through others, in the importation and was horrified when he discovered the amount and value involved.”

Walters was caught once before smuggling a much smaller amount of drugs and has previous convictions for drug, dishonesty and violent offences.

Judge Stephen Waller told the defendant: “This was a very high consignment, a significant commercial amount.

“I will deal with you as someone who was a courier, prepared to take the risk for some commercial gain and you must have realised the amount involved because of the sheer weight.”

Hotel Guest Accused Of Attacking Girlfriend

A man accused of breaking his partner's collarbone at a landmark central London hotel when she poured water over his head to wake him for breakfast, appeared in court for the first time yesterday.

Richard Swain, 38, of Foyle Park, Basingstoke, Hampshire is charged with inflicting grievous bodily harm on his girlfriend of six years, Carly Norman, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, (pictured) New Bridge Street, Blackfriars on December 2, last year.

City of London Magistrates' Court bailed Swain until April 17 for committal to the Old Bailey on condition he resides at his address, does not contact the complainant and another potential witness and does not go within 500 metres of the complainant's Basingstoke address.

The court heard the complainant was hospitalised for four days.

Salesman Nicked 250 iPhone5's Hours Before Launch

A senior sales consultant, who fled to France with £115,000 worth of stolen fifth generation iPhones he looted from his store just hours before their much-anticipated launch, was jailed for three years yesterday.

Usman Sethi, 24, of Audley Gardens, Ilford sneaked back into the O2 Wimbledon branch late at night and loaded up his car with approximately 250 handsets - wrecking his boss's publicised iPhone 5 sale scheduled to start the next morning.

The first-time offender raced to Dover and caught a ferry to France, where he sold the iPhones for £78,000 and blew all the cash during a drink-fuelled gambling spree.

He pleaded guilty at Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court to stealing a quantity of iPhones, worth £115,790, from the Tandem Centre store on September 20, last year and stealing a quantity of jewellery from his brother Ali and his sister-in-law on September 12.

"You were placed in a position of very significant trust by your employer and you abused that trust in a very cynical manner," Recorder Aiden Christie QC told Sethi.

"Maybe it was a mark of your desperation that you used your own access card to go into the room where there was all these valuable phones and electrical equipment."

Prosecutor Mr. Philip Jones told the court Sethi's brother was pressurising the defendant to return his valuable wedding jewellery, which included necklaces, rings, bangles and pendants, which he believed was being held in a locker at the O2 store.

In reality  Sethi had pawned the valuables for £6,530 while his brother and sister-in-law were on holiday in Turkey to pay off gambling debts.

"He never returned home, but returned to the store after making it secure at 8pm and sending the staff home and locking up.

"He deactivated the alarm, went to the store room and began loading a large quantity of stock, including iPhones, into boxes for about an hour," explained Mr. Jones.

"He left, but returned later and dragged out the boxes he had filled up with very valuable stock, reset the alarm and loaded up his car at the back of the store."

Everything was captured on CCTV and when police were alerted on September 21 a search of Sethi's car registration revealed he had already left for France on a Dover ferry.

Sethi's lawyer Mr. Gary Rutter said: "He has always worked in mobile phone shops since leaving school and has always progressed swiftly. He is a hard worker.

"He started to drink a large amount of alcohol, morning and evening, and tried to keep out of the family home, where his parents were having problems, as much as he could.

"The more he drank the more heavily he became involved in gambling and he says it became an addiction.

"He hoped to re-purchase the jewellery and give it back to his brother and sister-in-law, but he was not able to buy it back and became desperate.

"He saw a way of obtaining money and this is what he did.

"All the money was spent gambling, he lost the lot. He was in France, he knew the writing was on the wall and knew that he was wanted."

Sethi returned and gave himself up at Wimbledon Police Station on December 13.

The jewellery the defendant took from his brother's safe at the family home has been returned and Sethi has been forgiven.

"The family are not happy, but they will take him back and his brother and sister-in-law have visited him in prison," added Mr. Rutter. "The only reason they are not here today is that he told them not to attend."

Killer Ex-Gamekeeper Jailed After Ammo And Drugs Raid

A former gamekeeper and pheasant breeder - cleared of murdering a car thief he shot dead eighteen years ago - received twenty-eight months imprisonment yesterday after police found ammunition and a "sophisticated cannabis-growing operation" at his home.

Officers also seized twelve revolvers and eight rifles during the dawn raid, but a jury found 52 year-old Martin Wise held these as "curiosities or ornaments," and cleared him of illegally possessing firearms.

The jobless father-of-three, of Mount Pleasant, Hildenborough, Kent pleaded guilty to cultivating 48 cannabis plants, with a potential yield of 1.4 kilos, and a street value of £16,000 on June 8, 2011 and possessing nine .44 calibre and two .22 calibre cartridges, without a firearms certificate.

Blackfriars Crown Court heard Wise's life "unravelled" after he shot Matthew Hodge, 20, through the heart with a .25 Baby Browning pistol at point-blank range in August 1995 as he tried to break into the defendant's Ford Escort parked outside his home.

"He has had to live with the fact that he has killed a man and become a shadow of himself," said Mr. Mark Dacy, defending. "He had been confident and gregarious, a man who organised fifty-four shoots a year.

"He was heavily involved in the shooting fraternity, took part in organised shoots and was a member of gun clubs and suddenly all that was swept away and since then has hardly worked."

However, the prosecution have assessed Wise's benefit under the Proceeds of Crime Act as £96,000 and prosecutor Miss Wendy Dennis told the court: "From January, 2006 almost daily cash deposits of hundreds of pounds a time have been made into various accounts.

"He has been extraordinarily busy and the cash deposits are in excess of ninety-six thousand pounds."

Wise claims benefits of almost £3,000 per month.

"There seemed to be something of a manufacturing process of ammunition within the premises," added Miss Dennis. 

"Mr Wise says that when the cartridges were found he was looking to dismantle them as soon as possible and as for the cannabis it was for his personal use," explained Mr. Dacy.

"He was a heavy user and the medical reports explain the extent of his mental well-being.

"There were four or five middle-aged men that shared cannabis, it was a very small, social group and the experts agree that the set-up was unsophisticated, there was only one fan, no automatic watering and no electricity by-pass.

"His intention was that this growing would keep him away from people making profits out of cannabis, selling it at the back of pub car parks and mixing with the criminal fraternity.

"His depression and anxiety is now something he has addressed and he has stopped using cannabis," said Mr. Dacy. "He is a determined character and has moved away from this path.

"He has been suicidal, he is on medication and it is likely he and his wife will be evicted. His housing association home is now a skeleton and he is just waiting to move on.

"The family has been tremendously effected by all this and Mr Wise himself feels he is a targeted man because of the nature of the person involved in the 1995 incident."

Recorder Matthew Nicklin announced: "The defendant was deeply effected by the shooting incident and continues to be so, but he knows first-hand the terrible potential consequences of firearms.

"There were guns on the premises that were capable of firing some of the ammunition in Mr. Wise's possession.

"Also found in two separate areas was a sophisticated cannabis-growing operation."

Wise was sentenced to twenty months for cultivating cannabis, plus eight months consecutive for possessing ammunition and will serve half the sentence in custody, minus over seven months credit for obeying a night time bail curfew.

Prison Tonic For £300K Cocaine Courier

A cocaine courier, caught stepping off a Caribbean flight with over £300,000 worth of the drug hidden inside eleven bottles of tonic drinks, has been jailed for six years.

Painter and decorator Peter Mawhinney, 41, of Woden Road, Wolverhampton tried to convince UK Border Agency officers he had spent an innocent week-long holiday in Jamaica to “clear his head” after a suicide bid.

The father-of-two pleaded guilty at Croydon Crown Court to smuggling 578 gms of 100% pure cocaine at Gatwick Airport on December 17, last year.

Prosecutor Miss Cynthia Caiquo told the court Mawhinney was travelling alone on a Virgin Atlantic flight from Montego Bay when he was stopped and quizzed by officers.

“He said he had packed his bag himself and had not been forced to bring anything into the UK.

“Inside his bag were eleven bottles of 'Triple S' tonic vitamin drink, which Mawhinney said he had paid five hundred pounds for and were for himself and his friends.

“The bottles' seals seemed uncommercial and when tested were positive for cocaine.”

Mawhinney's lawyer Mr. Andrew Stephens told the court: “He fell on hard times, work was difficult to find, and he got himself into financial difficulties and borrowed just over two thousand pounds from a loan shark.

“What he had to pay back was increasing day by day and was approaching ten thousand pounds when he was told: 'Pay now or suffer the consequences.'

“Threats were made to him about his physical well-being and the safety of his two girls, aged eighteen and five years-old.

“He was told he could eradicate his debt by flying to Jamaica and picking something up.

“His luggage was taken, items put in, and he couriered them back.”

Judge Stephen Waller told Mawhinney, who received fifty-four months imprisonment in Jersey for previous drugs offences: “Skilfully concealed within the bottles was the cocaine, which would have been recovered once it was smuggled into the country.”

The court also made an order restricting Mawhinney's foreign travel for three years after his release from prison.