Sussex couple ordered to repay £ 1.2 million.

John and Margaret Sheen, a husband and wife from Chichester, Sussex have been ordered to repay a total of £1,275,000 which has been obtained from crime or face a further term of  2 years in prison.

In December 2006 both John and Margaret Sheen pleaded guilty to offences of money laundering following the conviction of their sons James and John Sheen, who had previously been convicted for organising the theft and sale of approximately £ 1.8 million-worth of luxury cars. The sons’ organised a criminal network to steal the cars, provided false documents and index plates and then sold the vehicles to members of the public.

Police enquiries led to the discovery of over £700k in cash, held by the parents. Part of this cash was traced back to the sale of stolen cars. For their part in this elaborate and organised criminal gang John Sheen was sentenced to 3 1/2 years imprisonment and Margaret Sheen to 9 months imprisonment suspended for 2 years.
 

On 8th July 2008 at the Crown Court Cardiff, following an investigation by the Regional Asset Recovery Team (Wales), John and Margaret Sheen were ordered to repay a sum of

£ 1,275,000 during a confiscation hearing. This was made up of the cash seized from the safe deposit boxes, equity held in a number of properties and monies held in bank accounts. An additional penalty of 2 years imprisonment was set in default.

Police made applications on behalf of over 60 victims of the Sheen’s and their gang, and they were awarded in excess of £ 580,000 in compensation, to be paid out of the recovered funds.

Detective Chief Inspector Chris Dodd, Head of Regional Asset Recovery Team (Wales) said:

“This has been a huge investigation involving forces and victims all over the country. The original investigative team won national recognition for the quality and thoroughness of their investigation and we believe that today’s result, compliments their excellent work.  The Wales RART has already obtained confiscation orders valued at £124k. The sums of money involved in this case, indicate just how much is being stolen from victims by career criminals. This excellent result will show our determination to pursue Criminal Assets wherever we identify them and encourage us in our aims to seize the profits of criminal activity impacting in Wales”.