ASSETS RECOVERY
AGENCY News Release issued by The Government News Network on 3
March 2008
The Assets
Recovery Agency has won its latest civil recovery action in the
High Court in London resulting in the seizure of assets, worth an
estimated £400,000, held by or on behalf of John Paul Allan,
formerly of Nottingham but originally from Doncaster.
Allan, who was described by His Honour Judge Higgins as a
"habitual criminal", is currently serving life
imprisonment for the murder of Ian Taylor, an associate who was
due to be co-defendant in a drugs trial. He was convicted and
received a 16 year custodial sentence for conspiracy to supply
drugs. This included a three year concurrent sentence for
perverting the course of justice for his attempts to bribe the
jury in the trial. Allan also had previous convictions for a
variety of acquisitive crimes.
The case was referred to the Agency in October 2003 by the then
National Crime Squad (now part of SOCA) following Allan's
conviction for murder and drug trafficking. Following
investigation, ARA alleged that Allan had used drug trafficking to
fund his lifestyle and acquire property.
The court confirmed that the evidence presented on behalf of the
Director of ARA satisfied any standard of proof that the assets
were derived from Allan's drug dealing. Allan had claimed
that until his arrest in June 1995 he had earned his money as an
artist, art dealer and through gambling. ARA showed that during
this period large cash purchases were made, including three
houses. Furthermore, Allan had declared no income and had been in
receipt of unemployment benefit. The court found that there was no
corroborative evidence as to how Allan could have legitimately
financed his purchases. The Agency also called an expert witness
from the British Horse Racing Authority who gave evidence
disproving Allan's gambling claims.
The court also found that Allan's father (now deceased) and
mother knew that cash used to purchase properties were the profits
of drug dealing and had acted as "unconscionable" launderers.
His Honour Judge Higgins emphasized that drug dealing caused
heartache, misery, degradation and even death and as such any
involvement in these activities was despicable.
The High Court granted a civil recovery order for:
* A residential property at Fothergill Court, Nottingham;
* A
residential property at Amberley Rise, Doncaster;
* the
proceeds of the sale of a third residential property bought by Mr
Allan under a false name;
* around £15,000 in cash seized by
the National Crime Squad at the time of Allan's arrest;
and
* money held in bank accounts and shares
Commenting on this latest success, ARA's Deputy Director of
Operations, Charlie Dickin said: "The Agency's primary
objective is making sure crime does not pay and this is another
case that sends that clear message.
"The Proceeds of Crime Act has given us new powers to take
back assets derived from crime and we are committed to using these
powers to ensure that crime will not pay.
"This is part of a continual stream of assets being taken
out of the hands of criminals which we will now recover so that
the proceeds can be used for the benefit of everyone in the community"
Notes to Editors
1. The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 created
the Assets Recovery Agency and provided completely new powers to
allow ARA to seek civil recovery of the proceeds of unlawful
activity by an action in the High Court. The Agency can also issue
tax assessments where there are reasonable grounds to suspect that
there is taxable income, gain or profit from criminal conduct.
2. On 31 October 2007, the Serious Crime Bill received Royal
Assent. The new Act will merge the operational elements of the
Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) with the Serious Organised Crime
Agency (SOCA), and the training and accreditation functions with
the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA). It will also
extend to certain prosecutors the power to launch civil recovery
action under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. Until then ARA will
continue to operate as before and use its powers to the full in
proceeding to complete existing cases and adopt new cases for
future action.
Assets Recovery Agency, PO Box 39992
London EC4M 7XQ
T +44 (020) 7029 5700
F +44 (020) 7029 5706
E
enquiries@ara.gsi.gov.uk http://www.assetsrecovery.gov.uk