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England and Wales High Court (Queen's Bench Division) Decisions |
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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales High Court (Queen's Bench Division) Decisions >> Serious Organised Crime Agency v Hymans & Ors [2011] EWHC 3332 (QB) (16 December 2011) URL: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/QB/2011/3332.html Cite as: [2011] EWHC 3332 (QB) |
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QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL |
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B e f o r e :
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SERIOUS ORGANISED CRIME AGENCY |
Applicant |
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- and - |
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(1) TREVOR HYMANS (2) STEPHEN KEEBLE (3) JAMES THOMAS O'DOCHERTY (also known as Mark Eric Gibbons) (4) MANNCHERTY SL |
Respondents |
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Michael Wolkind QC and Nicholas Yeo (instructed by Stokoe Partnership) for the Third Respondent
Hearing dates: 21 and 22 June 2011
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Crown Copyright ©
Mr Justice Kenneth Parker :
Introduction
The Statutory Regime: Part 5 POCA
"266. (1) If in proceedings under this Chapter the court is satisfied that any property is recoverable, the court must make a recovery order.
(2) The recovery order must vest the recoverable property in the trustee for civil recovery.
(3) But the court may not make in a recovery order
a) any provision in respect of any recoverable property if each of the conditions in subsection (4) or (as the case may be) (5) is met and it would not be just and equitable to do so, or
b) any provision which is incompatible with any of the Convention rights (within the meaning of the Human Rights Act 1998 (c. 42)).
(4) In relation to a court in England and Wales or Northern Ireland, the conditions referred to in subsection (3)(a) are that
a) the respondent obtained the recoverable property in good faith,
b) he took steps after obtaining the property which he would not have taken if he had not obtained it or he took steps before obtaining the property which he would not have taken if he had not believed he was going to obtain it,
c) when he took the steps, he had no notice that the property was recoverable,
d) if a recovery order were made in respect of the property, it would, by reason of the steps, be detrimental to him.
(5) In relation to a court in Scotland [not relevant].
(6) In deciding whether it would be just and equitable to make the provision in the recovery order where the conditions in subsection (4) or (as the case may be) (5) are met, the court must have regard to
a) the degree of detriment that would be suffered by the respondent if the provision were made,
b) the enforcement authority's interest in receiving the realised proceeds of the recoverable property.
(7) A recovery order may sever any property.
(8) A recovery order may impose conditions as to the manner in which the trustee for civil recovery may deal with any property vested by the order for the purpose of realising it.
(9) This section is subject to sections 270 to 278."
"free-standing proceedings instituted whether or not there have been criminal proceedings against the respondent or indeed anyone at all."
Lord Clarke (with whom Lords Phillips, Mance, Judge, Reed and Brown agreed) expressly agreed with this at para 56.
"in all proceedings following an acquittal the court should be astute to ensure that nothing that it says or decides is calculated to cast the least doubt upon the correctness of the acquittal."
See also Lord Dyson at para 138: a court should not decide a civil case using language which casts doubt on the correctness of an acquittal. This will not happen if the court's language and reasoning go no further than is necessary for the purpose of determining the issue before that court and without making imputations of criminal liability. The fact that the findings may implicitly cast doubt on the acquittal is not sufficient to bring Article 6(2) into play. It is clear that a finding to the civil standard that unlawful conduct has been committed by a respondent who was acquitted of the very same conduct in criminal proceedings, will not undermine the effect of that acquittal.
i) By establishing the nature of the anterior criminal conduct. Here the anterior criminal offence alleged is either drug trafficking or mortgage fraud.ii) By establishing that the circumstances in which the property was handled are such as to give rise to the irresistible inference that it can only be derived from crime: see Anwoir [2009] 1 WLR 980 at para 21.
Evidence of Drug Dealing: Background
"In my judgment this is an exceptional case. It is common ground that the prosecution case in relation to conspiracy depended entirely on the surveillance tapes. Prosecuting counsel had a duty to review disclose prior to committal. He performed that duty. He advised in May 2000 that disclosure should be made of the unused material as well as the material on which the prosecution relied. It is of the highest importance that when counsel give such advise it should be followed. The prosecution on the lamentable chronology of events which appears at the beginning of this judgment were, as it seems to me and is indeed largely conceded by Mr Peters, guilty of a variety of breaches of undertakings and failure to comply with court orders. The District Judge heard evidence from the prosecution solicitor and he concluded that she was manipulative. The non disclosure which here occurred was deliberate not accidental. It was massive not minimal. The unused material did in some respects help the defence in matters bearing upon their ability to cross-examine in the course of the old style committal proceedings. Mr Peters' distinction between used and unused material seems to me therefore to be one with very little force indeed in the circumstances of this case."
The Evidence in Greater Detail
" has got the work, wrapping it now, he's got the work Friday what it is Peter gave me."
O'Docherty went on to say:
" but we need to give my man Saturday tomorrow rest of the money which is right."
"You owe me 27/8, yeah 57/8, 27/8 plus I ain't been asking the last times you know."
O'Docherty also mentions "Peter" again and:
" he's after a certain kind of like bubble to be the best you've gotta have it like that."
i) The reference to "Gold";ii) "what he's done with it, I've give him gear". There was further conversation about the return of these goods if they were not sold;
iii) "we can be getting them down, their bits and pieces their ones so I could swap thirty of them straight away or forty";
iv) "I went there, he said there's nothing wrong with it it's just a bit weak. Cos his man's now checked the gear and all that";
v) "I was going to take that out of Peter's". This appears to refer to a store of cannabis at [Peter] Baker's home address, consistent with the comment: "They've still got bits and pieces on the floor anyway".
"i. DT: "See him Bunny you know who I mean"
JOD: "Yeah well I do ten bits there".
ii. JOD spoke about "that gear came"
DT: "What sign is it, 'cos I ain't seen it, is it"
JOD: "Gold".
iii. JOD went on to say: "he said it weren't all Golds what you had he said definitely was not one parcel, he said because I remember him saying it's three different ones in one. I don't know if it was that one you had or two different ones.
iv. He stated shortly after: "they're in a batch, you look at one and they look more or less the same in the wrapping, you cut them open they're not"
He added: "they're like don't forget individually can't see them and to sit down and unwrap all them first you'd get your gear two days later take forever to cut all them open and deal with them out four hundred bars to peel or more than that about eight hundred bars."
v. JOD spoke about the number of bars and: "I said to him I said look mate I said I ain't had a tanner in off that little bit of work.
vi. O'Docherty and Tovey referred again to the arrest of Harris:
DT: "we lost someone down there"
JOD: "Yea I'll say to him, I'll say complain but I mean it does happen."
vii. JOD repeated that he had no money, adding: "I got about four hundred, five hundred of them sitting about now. You got hundred odd got two hundred, they've just got two hundred there's other bits there, there's about five hundred bits sitting about."
viii.O'Docherty told Tovey that he had two hundred bits: "They've got their two hundred an odd bits plus Peter bits we're swapping it, he had his forty bits So all of a sudden with one cops now we over six hundred bits sitting there and we ain't got no money."
ix. O'Docherty received a phone call and at its conclusion stated: "Peter's just rung me, they've got fifty of them Golds in theirs they ain't saw one bit of gear yet."
He added: "Peter said he can fill it, sell the Golds."
xi. O'Docherty and Tovey discussed the possibility of forensic evidence in respect of the arrest of Harris.
JOD: "me and my mate Robert we take our socks off we never touch a bit of gear when I do money I wear a pair of rubber gloves.""
"do you know anyone that can go he got a tug last Sunday week he said to me."
Tovey referred to a similar situation which in the context could sensibly only relate to the smuggling of drugs. O'Docherty added:
"the best way to do it is to drive through get someone else to drive You ain't going to get a tug then."
There was further discussion about journeys which could relate only to the transportation of drugs. O'Docherty said:
"I get my gear through whoever I just don't have it with them myself. It's fucking naughty."
O'Docherty stated that he did not like Amsterdam:
"they are all grasses I used to meet them in Spain."
He added:
"what happened was he said in Holland you get nicked he said you stick a few names up and you're out of it."
"I was speaking to my mate, you know the one I normally go to If I want to get a thing out to you. He's going to France he had a turnout not a bad turnover, they just pulled him over and had a chat to him he's had a couple of tugs now."
O'Docherty added a little later:
"start bring it over Tuesday week"
And
"I said to Peter today come on son what's happening or I said if that little one comes in or he gets it with a bit he might"
DT: "He's earning good money"
JOD: "No we give 5 and 40 we did last time".
"I had to give 200 quid even though I got paid that bit of coke, other sums of money and bits and pieces."
"One bits given to one person and I'll just leave it there's a little gap there I can squeeze a few more on"
"JOD: "Don't know how much exactly, 'cos I don't know what he had done and what he ain't done."
DT: "There's gear in there from the time before."
JOD: "Yeah but it's in the gaff, normally it wouldn't be there but because we had the boxes done nobody's (inaudible) that way where as before."
Tovey asked "where is he" and O'Docherty gave clear information about where he lives and how he believes he must have been seen. He added:
"I'll try and get him out I was thinking of going to court tomorrow and try and get him out of the van or whatever to get him away."
"never ever met anyone else that don't know but someone called slim Jim has been round to see what is happening."
O'Docherty spoke about:
"take half of it home into two lots in one go, go back and get the other half and then come back."
"you know what Peter it's a little cul-de-sac, he went so the neighbours are sweet I'm alright and all that you know what I mean so I went alright then if you feel good he was happy there .. he's been working there fuck me working there for two years on and off."
"50 grand yesterday and they're fucking gone and done that I've lost it you know what I mean it's one of those things."
He added:
"I still pay his ex's I'll pay their wages even though they don't care or nothing it cost me 40 grand."
"that's all been sitting there, his bits of work I'll give him a fucking tonne of gear and say there's your work or you know the one I gave back."
"I get the gear, I get the gear now for four forty so I can give about four six five for it there but they want the money there."
O'Docherty went on to discuss prices.
"With the Bunny I lost, going out there biggest thing I've done I've done about half a mill even with the bits and pieces I've, I'm going to give him a few quid Peter, I've done this when I was new but I'm about I'm probably about half a mill down."
He added:
"I still paid everyone's wages."
"what normally happens is the earner pays for the next one but I haven't had the earner I've had to chop up, shuts bits down I've got another gaff I've done I've done a few quid mate."
Money Laundering: The Participants
i) Credit of £359,128.65 on 20 March 1998 from a solicitor following the securing of a mortgage from Barclays Bank on a property belonging to O'Docherty (53 Malford Grove). The mortgage application form included false details of income for O'Docherty. He said that he was the owner of JOD Enterprises for the last five years and that he was earning £150,000 per annum from the business. JOD Enterprises was set up in June 1997 and draft accounts for the Year End 30 June 1998 showed profits of £54,138. Accounts had been produced for JD Developments which showed net profit for the year ending 31 March 1996 of £148,124 and for year ending 31 March 1997 of £55,864.ii) Credits of £189,980 and £54,980 in September and November 1998 respectively from Barclays Home Finance in respect of a mortgage secured against the Haylands property. The mortgage application included false details of income for O'Docherty. He said that he was the owner of JOD Enterprises for the last five years and that he was earning £150,000 per annum from the business with projected profits of £250,000 per annum.
iii) Credit of £57,000 from Claire Trevillion in November 1998 which relates to the sale of property (1 Warren Road) in her name.
i) £25,000 to Glentech Consulting Ltd on 27 July 2000.ii) £170,000 on 27 November 2000 to Sol Bank account number 0001127219 in the name of Orizaola Espiga, a Spanish lawyer used by O'Docherty to purchase properties in Spain.
iii) £13,383.16 draft payable to Adams Properties dated 7 January 2002.
The payments above appear to have been carried out on the instructions of Thomas, with at least the main payment of £170,000 for the benefit of O'Docherty. In a response dated 28 July 2009 to a Disclosure Order and Notice, O'Docherty stated that the original Bank of Bermuda account held funds from his clothing and jewellery business, wholly at odds with Thomas' statement to the police.
"the two passport photographs are most likely of one and the same person."
A supplementary report compared the passport photograph of Gibbons with an arrest photograph of the actual Mr Gibbons and concluded:
"as such we can conclusively rule out any possibility that the two people in these images are the same person."
Recoverable Property
Haylands: 1996 Transaction
i) £68,228 from the sale of 9 Cloysters Green, St Katherines Dock. This property was originally purchased in the name of Anthony Caya in January 1997 and sold in January 1998 for £120,000.ii) £62,000 from the sale of 11 Jade Close, London, E16. This property was originally bought in the name of Anthony Caya in April 1997 and then sold in February 1998 for £62,000.
i) £793,044.87 on 23 September 2004 to an account in Spain with Banca March, number ES9800610257130006160179 in the name of O'Docherty.ii) £362,500 on 16 December 2004 to Barnes & Partners Solicitors.
iii) £1,094,121 to Kensington Mortgages to redeem outstanding mortgage on property. This included an early repayment charge of £61,272.34.
iv) £74,268.41 to Lombard to discharge outstanding charge against property.
v) £1,554,900.51 remaining sale balance to account in Spain with Banca March, number ES9800610257130006160179 in the name of O'Docherty.
i) Funds (£170,000) from Bank of Bermuda account in the name of Adams Properties, transferred to O'Docherty's Spanish lawyer in November 2000. O'Docherty has stated these funds were used towards property purchases in Spain.ii) Funds (£793,044.87 and £1,554,900.51) from the sale of the Haylands property around September to December 2004 transferred to O'Docherty's Banca March account number ending 0179.
iii) Funds (£82,695.37 and £95,025) from the sale of 180 Ladywell Road around June to August 2003 transferred to O'Docherty's La Caixa account number ending 9229.
iv) Funds (£62,899.37) from the sale of 28 Uplands Road in February 2004 transferred to O'Docherty's La Caixa account number ending 9229.
v) Funds (£60,000) from the fraudulently obtained mortgage on the property Cannister Hall in June 2003 transferred to O'Docherty's La Caixa account number ending 9229.
i) Account ending 1132, balance at 10 November 2009 £18,356.78 in the name of Mr O'Docherty;ii) Account ending 9665, balance at 10 November 2009 £10,448.78 in the name of Mr O'Docherty. The Claimant contends that 88 per cent of this figure (£9,194.92) represents recoverable property.
Legitimate Income
i) 1981-1988: O'Docherty worked in Hackney market earning "off-the-record" wages from various traders.ii) 1988-1991: O'Docherty ran, with others, a clothing shop called Games Clothing. Trevor Thomas, stated that the accounts for this business showed no profits.
iii) 1991-1992: O'Docherty had a number of one-off ventures where no accounts were prepared.
iv) 1993: O'Docherty's wife, Carmel, opened a shop called Mollys which ceased trading after a year. The accounts for the period November 1991 to July 1993 showed no tax liability.
v) 1992-1995: in the period 6 April 1992 to 5 April 1995 O'Docherty said that he had income from jewellery trade, although no proper records were maintained. Apparently draft accounts had been prepared for the period 6 April 1992 to 31 December 1994 with gross profit of £103,925.
vi) February 1995: in October 1997 O'Docherty's accountants notified Walthamstow tax office that he had been a property developer since February 1995. There had been no record of O'Docherty with the Revenue since 1988. Subsequent to the notification to Walthamstow Tax Office two years' accounts were submitted to 31 March 1996 and 31 March 1997. The accounts to 31 March 1996 showed a turnover of £187,928 with net profits of £148,124. The accounts to 31 March 1997 showed a turnover of £214,000 and net profits of £55,864.
vii) June 1997: O'Docherty set up JOD Enterprises Ltd dealing in parallel trading of brand name goods from the USA and Europe. Draft account figures apparently showed gross profits in excess of £100,000.
viii) 1977: O'Docherty had become involved in the Spanish property trade following an alleged £40,000 betting win on horse racing and the Irish lottery. There is no documentation to support these claims.
Conclusion
UK real property
Overseas real property: Hacienda El Palmeral, Marbella
Overseas real property: La Totre Golf Resort
Overseas real property: other
Vehicles
Bank Balances
a. Banca March, Spain
i. Banca March, Spain ES: 98 0061 0257130006160179
ii. Banca March, Spain ES: 0061 0257 190008080171
iii. Banca March, Spain ES: 025743410020177
All in the name of O'Docherty
iv. Banca March, Spain ES: 0061 025712001055011 in the name of Manncherty SL
b. HBOS, UK
i. HBOS account, UK, number 01441132 in the name of O'Docherty
ii. HBOS account, UK number 00559665 in the name of O'Docherty (88% of current balance of 00559665 alleged to be recoverable)