Police recover nearly £7 million from criminals

ACC Steve Heywood with the recovered nearly £7 million from criminals

2 More Image(s) In Gallery

Greater Manchester Police has recovered nearly £7million in assets from criminals under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA).

In the last 12 months, GMP has carried out 289 POCA confiscation orders and 305 cash seizures making the total recovery of criminal assets as £6,917,686.

Between April 2012 and April 2013, the Force successfully obtained court forfeiture orders to the value of £2,112,545 in cash and obtained confiscation orders to the value of £4,805,142 from criminals.

A house valued at approximately £500,000, Rolex, Breitling, Omega and Tag watches and high powered vehicles including Audis, Bentley, BMWs, a Mercedes Benz and a Lamborghini Gallardo are just some of the items seized or restrained (whereby assets have been frozen) by Greater Manchester Police from criminals over the past year.

Assistant Chief Constable for GMP, Steve Heywood, said: “By using the POCA legislation we have been able to relentlessly pursue those making a living out of being a criminal and see that they are made to pay for their crimes. Our teams have carried out financial investigations to target the fraudsters, drug dealers and those involved in organised criminality and have been able to take away their prized possessions.

“It means that we haven’t had to stop once a person is locked up, in fact for our team this is just a starting point. The high life that communities will have seen criminals enjoy is unravelled as offenders are stripped of their much loved assets, cash, possessions and pride.”

Within the last financial year, £1,159,503 has been recovered as part of the Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme (ARIS), the process used to allocate proceeds gained from POCA.

ARIS comes into place once money and assets have been recovered from criminals and where possible victims are reimbursed. The process is then in place so that police receive a percentage of the funds, which is reinvested into financing POCA and community projects.

John Dilworth, Head of the CPS North West Complex Casework Unit said: “The value of POCA confiscation orders obtained in the last twelve months is testament to the sheer determination of the CPS to bring criminals who have amassed high levels of personal wealth from their crimes before the courts to strip them of their ill-gotten assets.

“The CPS and Greater Manchester Police are committed to making sure that criminals do not keep hold of the proceeds of their crimes and we will continue to make full use of the POCA legislation to ensure that criminals do not benefit financially from their illegal activity.”

A portion of criminal gains are reinvested back into the community to support worthy projects. This included the Lionheart Challenge which was carried out in March this year. The project saw the Force spend £100,000 of criminals’ money on a project involving thousands of schoolchildren from 30 schools across Greater Manchester to help break down the barriers between children and police.

ACC Heywood, added: “Having been involved in a number of the investigations through to the final stages and seeing the effect that the criminality has had on communities, I cannot think of a more suitable way to spend this money.

“The Force is a privileged position, in that it is able to decide where criminals’ money is reinvested and by using our own local knowledge we can ensure that it goes back to those that are at most risk of crime and antisocial behaviour.”

Funding is also granted into community projects across Greater Manchester so that the areas affected by the criminality can reap the benefits, barriers are broken down and antisocial behaviour is brought down.