Possession of articles for use in fraud
Date Produced: 23 October 2009
Title: Theft
Offence: Possession of articles for use in a fraud
Legislation: S6 Fraud Act 2006
Commencement Date: 15/1/07
Mode of Trial: Either Way
Statutory Limitations & Maximum Penalty: 5 years
Aggravating & Mitigating Factors
- The purpose to which the articles were to be put
- The sophistication of the articles
- The amount of the prospective gain involved
- The amount of the prospective loss to be caused
- Whether vulnerable victims were to be targeted
- Guilty Plea
- Voluntary repayments
- Personal factors such as illness, disability, family difficulties, etc.
Relevant Sentencing Guidelines (If Any)
Sentencing Guidelines Council Definitive Guidelines on Fraud
Convicted on or after 26 Oct 2009
Article for use in an extensive and skillfully planned fraud
S7 Making/Supplying - Start: 4 years, range: 2-7 years.
S6 Possession - Start: 36 weeks, range: 6 weeks - 2 years.
Article for use in a less extensive and less skillfully planned fraud
S7 Making/Supplying - Start: 26 weeks, range: CO (High) - 2 years.
S6 Possession - Start: CO (Med), range: CO (Low) - 26 weeks.
Additional aggravating features
- Number involved in the offence and role of the offender.
- Offending carried out over a significant period of time.
- Use of another person's identity.
- Offence has a lasting effect on the victim.
Additional mitigating factors
- Peripheral involvement
Relevant Sentencing Case Law
None but see cases under the old law.
R v Crick [1981] 3 Cr. App. R. (S) 275
The defendant pleaded guilty to possessing a press and making 150 poor quality coins for use in slot machines. At one extreme is the professional forger with carefully prepared plates and elaborate machinery who manufactures large quantities of bank notes and puts them into circulation. A long sentence of imprisonment is appropriate in such cases. At the other end is this case. 9 months.
R v Dossetter [1999] 2 Cr. App. R.(S) 248
Large scale production. $6 million. 3 to 7 years.
R v Ameen Din and Others [2005] 2 Cr. App. R.(S.) 40
Pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud. Over a period of more than two years, the defendant and others conspired to defraud banks and other financial institutions by making and using cloned and skimmed credit and debit cards in each others premises. £250K obtained and attempted to obtain a further £250K. 21 months to 4 years.
R v Fabio De Oliveira [2005] EWCA Crim 3187. Simple possession of a passport. Guilty plea 8 months. The guidelines in Kolawole apply to offences of a passport with intent (S3(1) and S5(1) FCA 1981)accept and not to simple possession (S5(2) FCA 1981.)
R v Lindiwe Mutede [2005] EWCA Crim 3208
The defendant, who had a genuine passport, pleaded guilty to obtaining the false immigration letters and false national insurance card to enable her to work in the United Kingdom. The guideline case of Kolawole was primarily concerned with cases falling within the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981, where false passports were used. In the Court's view it was necessary to distinguish between using a false passport to obtain entry into the country, or to remain, and using false immigration letters to obtain work. 6 months.
R v Rosiene Riberio Carneiro [2007] EWCA CRIM 2170 {possession with intent}
Brazilian overstayer used false identity documents to open a bank account to receive her wages as a cleaner. No drain on the economy. Sentence 6m (following Mutede) Held: There was no absolute embargo on a judge suspending a sentence for such an offence if there was proper ground to do so, nor was there any statutory requirement that there should be exceptional circumstances. However, once it was recognised that ordinarily the appropriate sentence for an offence of that kind involved immediate custody, there had to be some good reason for the judge to act differently in a particular case, for simple reasons of consistency.
R v Adekeunle Adebayo [2007] EWCA Crim 878
The defendant went to an employment agency and produced two documents, a national insurance card and a Nigerian passport which were fake. The defendant claimed that he had entered the United Kingdom about 10 years earlier and had lost his Nigerian passport. He had paid £2,500 for the two false documents which he had produced. Sentenced 2 years reduce to 15 months. Recommendation for deportation.
The court considered Kolawole and Mutede and stated the distinction was between the use of a false passport which is of very considerable significance to the security of this country and to the propriety of immigration laws (Kolawole range 12 18m) and cases where the defendant had a genuine passport, but used false documents in order to obtain employment (Mutede 6m).
The court also stated that it is more serious to use false documents to seek to obtain employment than to open a bank account
Ancillary Orders:
- Compensation Orders: (5-411)
- Deprivation Orders: (5-439)
- Disqualification from acting as a Company Director: (5-851)
- Financial Reporting Orders: (5-886c)
Links:
Offence ARCHBOLD Supplement 21-369
