‘FORENSIC ACCOUNTANT GIVES FLYING SQUAD A LEG UP!!’


Back in 2004, a £33million raid on Heathrow Airport was thwarted by Metropolitan Police Flying Squad officers. The orchestrater behind this was 37 year old John Beach, a delivery driver from Stanwell, West London. Surveillance officers had been lying in wait for the gang and acted quickly to arrest seven members as they attempted to load £18 million worth of diamonds along with £15million worth of gold and 311kg of bank notes into the back of a van.

Beach, however, had also orchestrated a similar robbery in 2002 which saw £4.82 million being stolen from a plane being unloaded on a Heathrow Airport runway. It was the foiled 2004 attempted robbery and Beach’s greed that led to him being convicted for both crimes and he received a lengthy sentence of 16 years.

It was at Beach’s trial that the London Regional Asset Recovery Team stepped in to ensure that Beach did not benefit from the proceeds of his greed. Adeline Shelley, an experienced police forensic accountant, gave evidence in the trial which played a large part in securing Beach’s conviction.

The conviction triggered asset recovery proceedings, in which the forensic accountant changed her role and took over the financial investigation, a role normally performed by specially trained police financial investigators.     

A complex financial investigation ensued which uncovered assets, owned by Beach, including his share in the family home and various bank accounts and equities along with a VW Golf car. Beach had attempted to conceal his ownership of the vehicle by registering it in his wife’s name. 

This resulted in a confiscation order being obtained against Beach for £72,800. This order must be satisfied within a year or Beach will have to serve an additional eighteen months on top of his already hefty sentence.

Not only did RART succeed in stripping Beach of his assets, they successfully obtained a £70,000 confiscation order against Bernard Burvill, an accomplice of Beach who had taken part in a test run for the 2002 robbery. It later transpired that Burvill had been promised a whopping £150,000 by Beach, for his role but received less than half; again proving that there certainly is no honour among thieves!