THELAWPAGES.COM

Country

England & Wales

Hearing Date

18 July 2008

Court Location

Southwark Crown Court

Judge

HHJ Michael Gledhill QC

Case Number

T20077302

Name

Data Anonymised

Gender

Male

Co-Defendant/s

Yes

Bail Position

In Custody (Served: 15 Days)

Offence/s

Sentencing Considerations

Specific Sentence Report (SSR)

No

Victim Personal Statement

No

Undertaken in a group

Yes

Victim sustained injuries

No

Similar/relevant previous convictions

No

Sentencing Details

Total Sentence

7 Years

Parole Eligibility Date (PED)

31/01/2012

Sentenced Upon

Conviction After Trial

Distinguishing Features / Details

The judge said: The use of false and stolen identity documents to create false identities is very much on the increase. In 2006 Parliament looked to stop people such as you using false identity documents for fraud and other purposes with the Identity Fraud Act 2006. However this type of crime seems to be increasing. After a substantial police operation (Summit) in Luton, large numbers of documents were seized which appeared to be false. These are exactly the sort of documents for use in defrauding such companies and persons who might seek to rely on identities. Passports Visas driving licenses birth certificates bank account numbers and sort codes National Insurance cards and lists of NI numbers and utility bills ceased. Some were stolen and genuine others were false. Bank statements and utility bills had been scanned in the computer and details changed to support the obtaining of passports and driving licences. Account details and other information were stored on computer and memory sticks as well as paper form and details were passed around by text message. The details were the “essence of identity fraud” This “undermines civilized society” and is an “essential part of kit for those involved in terrorism” as well as immigration benefit fraud and suppliers of credit. In this case banks including American Express and Barclays were shown to have suffered a £162000 loss and from the whole fraud the potential loss would have been over £2 million. The group were alleged and proved to be part of a criminal organization which obtained genuine and false identity documents and were able to create identity documents to pass on to others to commit the sort of offences referred to. I do not accept that you were not at the very heart of the organization although I do accept others were involved.

Mitigating & Aggravating Factors

Good Character / No (relevant) previous convictions
Family at Court

Case Timeline

View Timeline

Crime Location

View Map

Legal Teams & Authorities

Defence Team

Solicitor's Firm

Stephen Fidler & Co

Chambers

Argent Chambers

Barrister

Frances Lawjua Bolton

Prosecuting Team

Chambers

Furnival Chambers

Barrister

Robert Charles Stephen Holt