Court confiscates £225,000 of convicted rogue builder's assets
07/09/2011
Convicted rogue builder Moses Mead has been ordered to pay back £225,000 after a confiscation hearing concluded on 6th September at Maidstone Crown Court.
Mead and his co defendant Christopher Latty were sentenced in July 2010 after preying on elderly and vulnerable victims and conning them into paying for expensive and unnecessary repairs to their homes. Mead was sentenced to four years imprisonment and Latty three years imprisonment after both pleaded guilty to offences of fraud by false representation last year.
Following sentencing Mead was given a Serious Crime Prevention Order. The court accepted the Prosecution's application and made the order which prevents him from carrying out any building work or advertising services for building work for financial reward or gain for a period of three years.
The confiscation hearing heard that Mead had benefited to the value of £782,685 from his criminal activity and his co defendant Christopher Latty £60,000. Mead has four months to pay back the money owed or face a further term in prison.
Lattys current financial circumstances are such that he has no available assets to pay the confiscation order and the court made an order for him to pay a nominal amount of £1. The purpose of the nominal order is to preserve the Crown's position so that if the accused obtains any assets in the future the Crown can ask the court to recalculate the confiscation order based on the value of any assets obtained by the accused, up to the amount of the benefit of the crime. This can be done at any time following the making of the nominal order.
Crown Advocate Simon Ringrose said:
"These criminals exploited vulnerable people and benefited from their misfortune; it was vital that they are stripped of their assets and prevented from investing it in further criminal activity.
"Not only have they been prosecuted through the courts, but stripped of their profits as well. The Proceeds of Crime Act is valuable tool and we remain committed to using it to ensure that criminals do not keep the proceeds of their criminality."
