CPS News Brief

CPS statement on Operation Alice

A CPS spokesperson said:

"We have received initial papers but we have not received a full file of evidence and we now await the conclusion of the police investigation before considering charges."

CPS decides no charges should be brought against Eric Joyce MP

A CPS spokesperson said:

“The CPS received a complete file on 26 March in relation to events at the Sports and Social Club within the Palace of Westminster on 14 March 2013, following which Eric Joyce MP was arrested.

“The file related to allegations of assault and after careful consideration we have concluded there is insufficient evidence to charge Mr Joyce with any offences in connection with this incident.

“Although there appears to have been an incident on the evening in question, evidence obtained from witnesses contained multiple inconsistencies and there is insufficient evidence that Mr Joyce committed any offence.

“On this basis, we have concluded there is insufficient evidence to support a realistic prospect of conviction and that no further action should be taken.”

Bogus lawyer Giovanni Di Stefano convicted

Giovanni Di Stefano has today been convicted at Southwark Crown Court of 25 counts including deception, fraud, money laundering and using a false instrument committed between 2004 and 2012.

Hilary Ryan from the CPS Organised Crime Division, said:

“For many years, Giovanni Di Stefano described himself to potential clients as a lawyer and usually as an Italian ‘avvocato’. He was nothing of the sort.

“When the law caught up with him, he falsely claimed to have obtained various formal, legal qualifications. He then went on to claim that having taught himself the law, he was entitled to describe himself as a lawyer. This was fraud by anyone’s standards and a charade that he kept up for over eight years in order to line his own pockets.

“People rightly expect the utmost integrity from those in the legal profession. Giovanni Di Stefano routinely tricked his clients and abused their trust. Those who seek to behave in such a cynical way should take note of this conviction today.”

Stephen Seddon guilty of murdering his parents

Cheryl Hramiak, Branch Crown Prosecutor at CPS North West said:

“As a result of today’s verdicts Stephen Seddon has been brought to justice for the violent and premeditated murders of his own parents and for an earlier attempt on their lives.

“He had planned these crimes in enormous detail and went to great lengths to cover his tracks and avoid detection, staging the scene of the murders to make it look like his father was responsible for the shootings. After his failed attempt to kill his parents by driving the car into the canal he even presented himself as a hero for trying to rescue them. His motive was purely financial: to get his inheritance without waiting for his parents to die. Since then he has tried to deceive everyone about what really happened and has shown no remorse whatsoever.

“The prosecution team has meticulously pieced together hundreds of items of evidence to present an overwhelming case that Stephen Seddon intended to kill his parents; that he failed in his first attempt but tragically succeeded in doing so in July 2012.

“The jury have consequently rejected his version of what happened when he drove the car into the canal and his bogus, and outlandish, accounts of the day that he killed his parents. They have recognised them for what they are – a catalogue of lies.

“I would like to offer my sincere sympathies to Robert and Patricia’s family and friends. I hope the justice that has been delivered today will go some small way towards helping them to come to terms with their loss.”

Former Essex broker jailed for foreign exchange investment fraud

Ian James Dickinson has today been sentenced to five years at Chelmsford Crown Court for a fraudulent foreign exchange investment scheme. Over nearly five years, Dickinson defrauded investors of around £3 million.

Rakesh Somaia, a senior fraud specialist for the Crown Prosecution Service, said:

“Many of Ian Dickinson’s victims were lifelong friends and local acquaintances. His fraud was the ultimate betrayal of their trust.

“He was a high profile and trusted member of the community, whose membership of the Rotary Club, Golf Club and Cricket Club gave the impression that he was a man who could be trusted. Some of his victims handed over their life or retirement savings.

“He became a junior foreign exchange broker at the age of just 17 and went on to lead a career in the City. His professional background was well known to friends and neighbours in Frinton on Sea, who kept on investing and even recommended others to do the same.

“Dickinson made little attempt to honour his word to make money for friends and investors, choosing instead to spend their money repaying earlier investors and to support a lifestyle which included a large house, cars and a private education for his children. These cases cause untold financial ruin, stress and misery to the victims and today shows the CPS is ready and able to prosecute the perpetrators.”

Background:

Dickinson took in excess of £11m from investors and invested just over three quarters of a million pounds in foreign exchange, making an overall loss on those investments of just under £200,000. He returned less than £8m to investors.

Dickinson pleaded guilty on 14 February 2013 to one count of participating in a fraudulent business as a sole trader, contrary to section 9 (1) Fraud Act 2006 and one count of carrying on an unauthorised regulated activity, contrary to sections 19 and 23 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.

Five sentenced for ‘extraordinary’ attack on public purse

Sue Patten, Head of Fraud at the Crown Prosecution Service, said:

“This was an extraordinary scheme created to attack the public purse. The defendants put in claims on a ghost film called 'Landscape of Lives' with the sole intention of criminally exploiting a tax relief system designed to support the UK film industry. The group had lied to the authorities by claiming the film had a budget of nearly £20 million in order to claim as much tax relief as possible.

“Following their arrest, they produced a different film aptly named ‘Landscape of Lies’ on a budget of less than £90,000 in an attempt to pretend the film claimed for really did exist.

“The defendants had big plans and succeeded in cheating the public purse out of nearly £1 million and had it not been for the actions of HMRC, that figure could have been three times as large.

“Tax evasion costs this country £14 billion a year; the equivalent of £769 for every family. It is more important than ever that we bring criminals behind this type of complex scheme to justice.”

Background:

1. Bashar Al-Issa was convicted on 12 March 2013 of two counts of conspiracy to cheating the public revenue and sentenced to six years and six months.

2. Aoife Madden pleaded guilty and was convicted of two counts of conspiracy to cheat the public revenue and sentenced to four years and eight months.

3. Tariq Hassan was convicted on 12 March 2013 of one count of conspiracy to cheat the public revenue and sentenced to four years.

4. Ian Sherwood was convicted on 12 March 2013 of one count of conspiracy to cheat the public revenue and sentenced to three years and six months.

5. Osama Al Baghdady was convicted on 12 March 2013 of one count of conspiracy to cheat the public revenue and sentenced to four years.

Operation Yewtree: CPS decides man in his 70s should not face prosecution

Alison Saunders, Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS London, said:

“The CPS has carefully considered the evidence gathered as part of Operation Yewtree in relation to a man in his 70s from Cambridgeshire who was arrested on 11 November 2012 over an allegation of indecent assault. The CPS received a full file of evidence on 20 March 2013.

“In this case the complainant made a withdrawal statement, which maintained that the allegations were true, but in which she said that she had made a statement to lend support to any other complainants who might come forward in relation to the same suspect. The complainant said that as she would be the only complainant to give evidence if the matter went to trial, she did not want to pursue it. She confirmed to the police that she came to this conclusion of her own free will, and was aware that she, like all complainants of sexual offences, was entitled to anonymity.

“We looked at the possibilities of bringing a prosecution without the evidence of this complainant, but have concluded that there would be insufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction.

“The suspect has maintained his innocence throughout.

“The conclusion was that, having given careful consideration to all of the evidence gathered in this matter including the detail of the withdrawal statement and the views of the investigating police officer, it would not be in the interests of justice to compel the complainant to attend court to give evidence. Without her evidence there is insufficient evidence to proceed.”