Merseyside men face jail for £15million Natwest theft

Mar 5 2008

Three men from the region are facing jail after they were part of a gang which used a High Street bank takeover and a public holiday to steal more than £15 million.

Darren Lee, 35, of Caldy Road, Aintree, Liverpool, Martin Williams, 29, of Bailey Drive, Bootle, Merseyside, and Lee Quincey, from Ashton-under-Lyne, were in the dock alongside Ian Clark, 37, of Nelson Road, Paisley, Scotland.

They realised that a “flaw in the system” following the Royal Bank of Scotland’s takeover of NatWest meant they could pay in worthless cheques and pocket a fortune before officials discovered that they were the victims of fraud on a “grand scale”.

By the time the alarm was raised, the missing money had been laundered through a string of companies, principally Bootle-based Britanniacity, on its way to eastern Europe.

London’s Southwark Crown Court heard that the idea came from a letter sent to customers after the takeover, which told them that funds would be shown as “cleared on the third working day” but could still end up bouncing.

Jurors heard that for dishonest people, the letter effectively signposted a licence to print money by telling them it is possible to take money that might not actually exist.

Clark argued he had been “duped” by self-confessed fraudster Quincey, while Williams and Lee insisted they had been acting in good faith during what they thought was a transaction.

After spending more than 25 hours over seven days considering four months of evidence the jury trying the case decided they were lying.

The jury convicted them of one count of conspiracy to defraud NatWest between January 1 and July 31, 2004. A fourth defendant, who has not been named, was cleared of any wrongdoing.

Judge Anthony Pitts adjourned sentencing until Monday but warned that although he was prepared to let them remain on bail he was making “no promises”.