CPS News Brief

Pair jailed for total of 40 years for smuggling cocaine

A pair of drug smugglers who plotted to fly cocaine with a potential street value of more than £2.4million into the UK have been jailed.

Light aircraft pilot John Buwalda, who flew the drugs into Rochester airfield in Kent, was sentenced to 23 years in prison at the Old Bailey this afternoon (Friday 3 February).

His accomplice Jan Polak was sentenced to 17 years in prison.

Punam Chopra, Specialist Prosecutor from the CPS International Justice and Organised Crime Division, said:

“The prosecution built a case which demonstrated how John Buwalda and Jan Polak plotted to fly a significant amount of cocaine into the UK using a light aircraft. As a result of their actions both men have today been handed lengthy prison sentences.”

Both men were convicted of importing class A drugs following a trial at the Old Bailey in December 2016.

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Six men jailed for more than 80 years for child sex offences in Rotherham

Six men have today been sentenced to more than 80 years in prison at Sheffield Crown Court for non-recent child sexual offences involving two victims in Rotherham.

Five of the six men were convicted on 25 January at Sheffield Crown Court and the sixth pleaded guilty to one offence at a hearing last year.

Basharat Dad was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment after he was found guilty of multiple child sexual offences. His brothers Nasar Dad, and Tayab Dad, 34, were jailed for 14.5 years and 10 years respectively for their crimes.

Mohammed Sadiq was jailed for 13 years and Matloob Hussain was also jailed for 13 years.

Amjad Ali pleaded guilty to sexual intercourse with a girl under 13 at a court hearing last year. Today he was sentenced to 11 years in prison.

Reviewing lawyer Mark Langan, from the CPS, said:

“These men were found guilty of a catalogue of vile sex offences against two young girls. The girls were targeted by these men because they were naïve and vulnerable. They were given alcohol and cannabis and intimidated into performing sexual acts. On one occasion one of the young girls was locked alone in a flat for hours without food, water or electricity.

“These young girls were subjected to the most appalling abuse at the hands of these men. They have both shown extraordinary courage in coming forward and enabling us to work with South Yorkshire Police to build a strong prosecution case which resulted in the jury returning guilty verdicts on 21 of 23 charges.

“These six defendants have now been sentenced to more than 80 years in prison for their crimes. I hope this is of some comfort to their victims and our thoughts remain with them both.”

Ryan Counsell convicted of four counts of terrorism

A 28-year-old man from Nottingham who planned to travel to the Philippines to fight with a banned terrorist group has been convicted today.

A jury at Woolwich Crown Court found Ryan Counsell guilty of preparation of acts of terrorism and possession of a document used in preparing an act of terrorism.

The trial heard how Counsell planned to join and fight with Abu Sayyaf, a proscribed terrorist organisation which has pledged allegiance to Daesh (so-called Islamic State).

Sue Hemming, Head of CPS Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, said: 

“Ryan Counsell meticulously planned his attempt to join a terrorist organisation which is responsible for atrocities across the Philippines and has pledged allegiance to Daesh.

“He attempted to conceal his plan but prosecutors were able to successfully demonstrate his true intent to the jury.”

Counsell had booked flights and accommodation in the Philippines, also booking a return leg in attempt to convince investigators that he was going on holiday.  

He was also in possession of documents related to Daesh which contained bomb making instructions and guides to operating as a terrorist in the West.

Conviction details:

• Three counts of possession of a document containing information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism 
• One count of engaging in conduct in preparation for terrorist acts. 

Former teacher convicted of sexually abusing boys in the UK and Thailand

A former teacher has today (Wed 1 Feb) admitted carrying out a catalogue of sexual abuse against young boys in Thailand and the UK.

Mark Frost, 70, who was previously known as Andrew Tracey, admitted 23 new charges at the Old Bailey, in addition to 22 charges he had already admitted last year.

The majority of the offences admitted by Frost, who is a British national, related to abuse carried out in Thailand between 2009 and 2012. The offending, including multiple sexual assaults, took place against boys aged between 10 and 15.

Two charges related to the abuse of boys in the UK aged between approximately 10 and 13.

A laptop and other digital devices found at Frost’s home address in Spain was found to contain more than 1,000 indecent images of children.

Frost was initially arrested by the Royal Thai Police in February and May 2013 but later that year failed to answer bail and left the country. He changed his name from Andrew John Tracey to Mark Frost in January 2014.

In November 2015 authorities identified that Frost was living in Alicante, Spain, and after more evidence was gathered against him, the Crown Prosecution Service assisted in making arrangements for a European Arrest Warrant to be issued in March 2016.

Frost was extradited to the UK on 28 April 2016 and appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court the following day charged with the original 22 Thai offences. He ultimately pleaded guilty to all the charges against him and entered 23 further guilty pleas today.

Ruona Iguyovwe, Senior Specialist Prosecutor in the CPS International Justice and Organised Crime Division, said:

“The harrowing evidence presented by the prosecution in this case outlined the suffering that Mark Frost caused to his victims. Over many years, Frost repeatedly exploited vulnerable young victims, both in the UK and in Thailand, for his own sexual gratification.

“He systematically targeted and groomed children from a poor community having sought to attract and lure them to his house through apparent generosity. He also photographed and filmed his own abuse of the children and shared it online.

“His offending has caused severe psychological harm to all of the children he abused many of whom are now old enough to realise the enormity of what happened to them.

“The CPS worked with investigators from a very early stage in order to build a strong case to secure these convictions, including travelling to Thailand to offer on-the-spot advice as victims were interviewed for the first time.

“International borders are not a barrier to justice and this prosecution was made possible through detailed partnership working between the CPS, the National Crime Agency and prosecutors in both Europe and Thailand.”

Frost will be sentenced in due course.

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Notes to Editors

·         Anybody who thinks they may have been a victim of Mark Frost / Andrew Tracey should call a dedicated NSPCC helpline number – 0800 328 0904.

The full list of charges admitted by Frost is as follows:

Charges admitted in 2016

·         Rape x1

·         Sexual assault x1

·         Sexual assault of child under 13 x6

·         Causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity x7

·         Causing or inciting a child under 16 to engage in sexual activity x5

·         Taking indecent images of a child x1

·         Distributing indecent images of children x1

Charges admitted at the Old Bailey on 1 February 2017

·         Rape of a child under 13 x2

·         Causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity x2

·         Causing or inciting a child under 16 to engage in sexual activity x2

·         Sexual assault of a child under 13 x4

·         Penetrative sexual activity with a child under 16 x5

·         Sexual activity with a child under 16 x1

·         Buggery x6 (UK offending)

·         Making indecent photographs of children x1

Detail relating to the charge of Making indecent photographs of children: 

1,105 still images recovered: Category A – 197 Category B – 166 Category C – 742 

6 moving images recovered: Category A – 4 Category B – 1 Category C – 1

Former HBOS manager and associates convicted of corruption

A senior banker, financial consultant and their associates who conspired to enrich themselves, driving businesses into the ground in the process, have been convicted of corruption, fraudulent trading and money laundering.

The scheme, led by former banker David Mills, 60, and Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) employee Lynden Scourfield, 54, eventually saw the bank incur losses in the region of £250million.

Scourfield headed a department at HBOS which dealt with businesses in financial difficulty. Having been bribed by Mills he required selected customers of the bank to engage the services of Mills and his company Quayside Corporate Services Ltd in order to obtain further lending from HBOS.

Scourfield then advanced large sums of money to the businesses, well past the point that it should have been obvious the debt could never be repaid.

This enabled Mills and his associates – his wife Alison, Michael Bancroft, and Tony Cartwright – to demand very high fees for their ‘consultancy services’. In some cases Mills and Bancroft were able to take over the running of the ailing firms for their own benefit.

Many of the businesses affected by the group’s actions went into liquidation resulting in job losses, financial hardship, marital breakdowns, the loss of their homes and serious ill-health.

The police investigation uncovered evidence of huge rewards provided to Scourfield by Mills to reward his corruption, including cash payments and money transfers amounting to several hundreds of thousands of pounds. Mills also provided lavish hospitality, expensive foreign holidays and sex workers including prostitutes.

Stephen Rowland, Specialist Prosecutor from the CPS Specialist Fraud Division, said:

“Many people have had their lives ruined by the corrupt behaviour of Lynden Scourfield, David Mills and their associates.

“Scourfield worked in a section of his bank which was supposed to help struggling businesses but instead, motivated by greed, he went about stripping them of their assets.

“This was a complicated prosecution due to the volume and complexity of the financial transactions and the large sums of money involved. But in the end thanks to the work of prosecutors and investigators the jury were left in no doubt that the actions of these six defendants were criminal.”

 

Scourfield pleaded guilty to conspiracy to corrupt, conspiracy to launder the proceeds of crime and four counts of fraudulent trading in August 2016. Following a five-month trial at Southwark Crown Court, David Mills, Alison Mills, Bancroft, Cartwright and HBOS employee Mark Dobson, 56, were convicted of various corruption offences (see below).

Jonathan Cohen, 60, was acquitted of fraudulent trading and conspiracy to conceal criminal property.

Those convicted are due to be sentenced on Thursday (February 2).

Notes to Editors 

·         Lynden Scourfield, 54, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to corrupt, conspiracy to launder the proceeds of crime and four counts of fraudulent trading  in August 2016. Reporting restrictions have been in place for the duration of the trial involving David Mills and others.

·         Following a five-month trial at Southwark Crown Court which concluded in January 2017, the following people were convicted:

- Michael Bancroft, [73], convicted of conspiracy to corrupt, three counts of fraudulent trading and one of conspiracy to conceal criminal property.

- David Mills, [60], convicted of conspiracy to corrupt, four counts of fraudulent trading and conspiracy to conceal criminal property.

- Mark Dobson, [56], convicted of conspiracy to corrupt and conspiracy to conceal criminal property.

- Alison Mills, [51], convicted of conspiracy to conceal criminal property.

- Tony Cartwright, [72], convicted of fraudulent trading and conspiracy to conceal criminal property.

· Jonathan Cohen, [60], was acquitted of fraudulent trading and conspiracy to conceal criminal property.