CPS News Brief

Rochdale grooming defendant Shabir Ahmed guilty of 30 counts of rape

Nazir Afzal, Chief Crown Prosecutor for North West Area said:

“Shabir Ahmed has been convicted today of the most appalling sexual abuse against a young girl. He subjected her to years of rape throughout her childhood from when she was very young, abusing the power that he had as an adult in the worst way possible.

“She has shown courage in coming forward and giving evidence at court against him, and today the jury have found him guilty of all the charges. I hope that this outcome will help her to continue to rebuild her life.

“With today’s verdicts Shabir Ahmed can now be named and identified for the first time as one of the defendants who was found guilty last month of sexual exploitation of young girls in Rochdale.

“He has shown in this trial, as he did in that earlier trial, that he accepts no responsibility and shows no remorse for the sexual offences he has committed against children. He is a sexual predator, who targeted his victims because of their youth and their vulnerability. Thankfully he will now be spending many years behind bars where he can no longer present a danger to children.”

Christopher Nathaniel and eight others charged with murder

Gary Dolby, senior lawyer of CPS London homicide team said:

“I have today authorised the Metropolitan Police to charge nine defendants with one count of murder and one count of conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm.

“They are: Christopher NATHANIEL (dob: 9/3/72) Paul BOADI (dob: 24/8/78) Paul JOHNSON (dob: 3/3/79) Andrew JOHNSON (dob: 1/4/77) David HYLTON (dob: 20/4/65) Ferron PERUE (dob: 29/9/88) Kevin RICHARDS (dob: 31/12/70) Nugent ROWE (dob: 1/4/83) O’Neil WAREHAM (dob: 15/9/82)

“The charges relate to the death of 18 year old Danny O’Shea in Gill Avenue, E16 on 2 December 2011.

“The decision was taken in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors.

“The defendants will appear at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court on 21 June 2012.”

Background

Please note that the dates of birth included are as held by the CPS only.

CPS advises police that it is not in public interest to prosecute journalist David Leigh

A CPS spokesperson said:

“As we said on 18 April, the CPS was passed a file relating to one journalist with relation to alleged offences under RIPA. The journalist in question is David Leigh of The Guardian and the request for advice related to an article he wrote on 4 December 2006 and the evidence he gave to the Leveson Inquiry on that subject.

“We have now considered this file and, although the investigation is not complete, the view has been taken that this is one of those rare cases in which it is clear that, prior to the collection and consideration of all the evidence, the public interest does not require a prosecution. The police have been advised accordingly. This advice was given under paragraph 4.2 of the Code for Crown Prosecutors and having considered the interim guidelines on assessing the public interest in cases affecting the media. In summary, the guidelines say that prosecutors should consider whether the public interest served by the conduct in question outweighs the overall criminality. If the answer is yes, it is less likely that a prosecution is required in the public interest.

“Prosecutors are only able to take such a decision when they are satisfied that the broad extent of the alleged criminality has been determined and that they are able to make a fully informed assessment of the public interest.

“This is not a charging decision based on a review of a full file of evidence, but is advice to the police before their investigation is complete. Whilst it is a matter for the police whether to continue any investigation, regardless of advice received, we understand the decision has been taken that no further action will be taken.”

Family of five sentenced for tax evasion & benefit fraud

Five members of the Coffey family were today sentenced at Bristol Crown Court on a range of charges including cheating the public revenue and making false statements for the purpose of fraudulently obtaining thousands of pounds in public money through the benefit system.

Andrew Biker of the CPS Central Fraud Division said:

“No income was ever declared by John Coffey to the Inland Revenue despite him working all his life in the tarmac and block paving industries. Even more money was made buying and selling cars and trading horses.

“The sheer number of bank accounts operated by the family and their ability to transfer significant funds between them fly in the face of their claims of illiteracy and ignorance of matters such as Income Tax. They were able to pass almost £2 million through the accounts by using false names and documents. Indeed, in one fraudulent house transfer, John Coffey hired two sets of solicitors and calmly acted the parts of both seller and purchaser simultaneously in order to transfer property around the family in different names to muddy the waters as to who owned what.

“In another brazen act of fraud, Bridget Coffey claimed over £9,000 in housing & council tax benefit from Cardiff County Council by stating that her husband was her landlord. In turn, her daughters claimed more than £70,000 in payments from the Department for Work and Pensions and Stroud District Council with false statements and documents from their father.

“No matter how you earn money, paying tax matters. But denying the honest British public of their contribution to tax was not enough for the Coffeys who went further by setting out to take funds set aside for those who most need them. People can rest assured that the CPS will do all it can to deprive these criminals of their assets and put the money back where it belongs – into the public purse.”

The defendants were father John, mother Bridget, son Michael and daughters Helen & Mary. They were sentenced as follows:

• John – 2 years 9 months, compensation £450,000 costs £9,645 plus all his defence costs
• Michael – 12 months suspended for 2 years, unpaid work of 200 hours, £50,000 compensation, costs £9,645 plus defence costs
• Bridget – 12 months suspended for 18 months, 100 hors unpaid work
• Helen – 6 months suspended for 18 months, 200 hours unpaid work
• Mary – 12 months suspended 18 months, 200 hours unpaid work