Smuggling Darwen Couple Back to Prison

A Darwen couple have been sent back to prison for a total of 9 ½ years for failing to satisfy a £1.8 million confiscation order issued by Preston Crown Court last year. 

Stuart Clifford Murthwaite, 50, and his partner Catherine Anne Gillen, 47, previously of Beech Road, Darwen were extradited back to the UK from Madrid earlier this month.

On the 27th August they attended an enforcement hearing at Bolton Magistrates Court where they have been given default sentences of five years and four and a half years respectively after being relentlessly pursued by the Crown Prosecution Service.

Murthwaite and Gillen were amongst a number of people arrested in a joint operation by the Lancashire Police Serious and Organised Crime Unit and North West Regional Asset Recovery Team (RART) in 2005 following an investigation into the smuggling of wholesale amounts of tobacco products codenamed Operation Vicarage.

This investigation also brought to light further offences of money laundering and mortgage fraud which led to them being served with an order made by HHJ Brown restraining them from dealing in any of their assets in the UK or abroad.

Following a protracted financial investigation both here and in Spain, officers from the North West RART were able to identify property and also a series of bank accounts, into which the defendants had sought to hide assets. With the assistance of the Spanish National Police, officers were able to discover that the defendants had sold the apartment and purchased a bar restaurant business in Salobrena, Spain.

The sale of this apartment together with the opening and use of the bank accounts in Spain was seen as a deliberate and cynical attempt to avoid the consequences of their offending and hide their assets from the court. This conduct even included an attempt to hide some £90,000 in ill gotten gains in the account of one of their children held at the same bank.

On 16 December 2008, following an application by the Crown to Preston Crown Court, Murthwaite and Gillen were found in contempt of court for their repeated breaches of the restraint order placed upon them and were sentenced to eight months imprisonment each.

The couple did not attend the hearing and authorities began the process to return them to the jurisdiction to serve their sentences.

Following the contempt of court hearing the court also dealt with Murthwaite and Gillen for their outstanding Proceeds of Crime hearing. They have also failed to satisfy the combined £1.8 million confiscation order and are now in default and are liable to serve their default sentences.

Murthwaite’s benefit from his offending was assessed by HHJ Brown as £991,967 which has now increased to over £1m with interest and he was ordered to pay that amount in full or face being returned to prison for a further five years which is the sentence imposed today.

Gillen’s benefit was assessed by the judge as being £831,093.27 and she was ordered to pay that amount in full. Today her failure to pay up has cost her four and a half years in prison thanks to the persistence of the Crown Prosecution Service.

Today’s sentences will run concurrent to the eight months they have been ordered to serve for a contempt of court at Preston Crown during their original Proceeds of Crime Hearing after submitted false information to the court regarding their assets.

Even after they have served their time, their debt remains, with accrued interest. However, if payment is made the prison term will be reduced in line with the payment received.

A spokesperson for Lancashire Constabulary SOCU said: “Today’s hearing sends out a clear message that we will relentlessly pursue those who profit from criminality and when a confiscation hearing is made, it is enforced."

“Murthwaite and Gillen are intelligent criminals but they are not smarter than the system. Their failure to pay up will now cost them thousands of pounds more in interest and years in jail, with the prospect of having to pay up the £1.8m they owe anyway."

"The Proceeds of Crime legislation is a powerful policing tool and taken very seriously by Lancashire Police. Anyone looking to fund their lifestyle from crime should take note."

Inspector John Entwisle from RART said: “This case clearly demonstrates that the actions of criminals fleeing abroad are ineffective. The North West Regional Asset Recovery Team will continue to pursue assets and other criminal money by working in partnership with overseas authorities to ensure these criminals do not retain the proceeds of their criminal acts.”

John Dilworth Head of the Crown Prosecution Service Lancashire / Cumbria Complex Casework Unit said: “The Crown Prosecution Service has worked in successful partnership the Lancashire Police and the North West Regional Asset Recovery Team to pursue the case against Mr.Murthwaite and Miss Gillen."

“The public are entitled to expect that we are true to our commitment to them to prosecute offenders fairly but robustly and to take all steps at our disposal to deprive them of their ill gotten gains”