Man jailed for handling stolen farm machinery and money laundering

Matthew Brown

A man who attempted to fool police with bogus paperwork after they had tracked stolen machinery to his farm has been jailed.

Matthew Brown (born 19/07/73) pleaded guilty to handling stolen machinery and two counts of money laundering at Minshull Street Crown Court on 5 August 2014 and was today, Thursday 18 September 2014, sentenced to 16 months in prison.

On Saturday 29 June 2013 a Kubota mini digger worth an estimated £7200 was stolen from a secure compound in Barnsley.

The vehicle was fitted with a tracking device and within 48 hours was tracked to Brown’s property, Carr Farm, Tunshill Lane, Milnrow.

When officers arrived at the farm on Monday 1 July 2013, they discovered the stolen digger in a workshop, where the vehicle was already in the process of being stripped down and repainted.

When asked for proof of purchase for the digger Brown led the officers to the main farmhouse and, claiming he needed to secure dogs loose inside his property, entered the house alone.

When he allowed the officers in a short time later, Brown produced a torn envelope with the words “Matthew Brown paid £3500 for Kubota 1.5 ton digger to Mr Smith thanks” scribbled on it.

Suspecting it was a fake, the officers arrested him.

On closer inspection, the digger’s original serial numbers had been removed and false ones applied with the intention of selling the machinery on at a later date.

A full search of the property later revealed another piece of machinery, a Thwaites dumper truck, with falsified identification plates attached. The real plates were found in a nearby skip cut into small pieces.

Officers painstakingly pieced together the cut-up plate and discovered that the digger in Brown’s yard had been stolen from Worksop, Nottinghamshire earlier in 2013.

PC Robert Booth said: “This has been a lengthy and protracted investigation during which Brown consistently attempted to mislead investigators and put obstacles in their way.

“This sentence will hopefully go some way to demonstrating that regardless of how much effort offenders make to cover their tracks, we will get them eventually.

“I also hope that the local community will be encouraged that Brown is now facing the consequences of his criminal activity and despite him trying to dig his way out of trouble, he could not escape justice.”