Criminals made to pay for their crimes

7:50am Saturday 30th August 2008

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Hitting criminals in the pocket is the ultimate deterrent against a life of crime, according to the cops who have launched a blitz on ill-gotten gain.

Detective Inspector Gary Burn, of Surrey Police, said confiscating a criminal’s home and expensive cars was one of the greatest threats the police can deliver.

Consequently, Surrey Police are expanding their resources to continue recovering money and assets bought using the proceeds of crime.

“If someone has a lifestyle made from criminal activity and we take it away from them and they are left homeless then it is the ultimate threat,” said D Insp Burn.

The Proceeds of Crime Act (Poca) allows police to seize assets made from crime and hits a growing number of offenders who just see prison as an occupational hazard.

The two types of seizures are confiscations - assets that are centralised for redistribution - and forfeiture, where the police are rewarded funds from courts.

During 2007-08, Surrey Police obtained £1,534,000 from 25 confiscation orders and 29 cash forfeiture orders at a value of £222,873.

The irony is that the criminals effectively fund their own capture, as seized funds are reinvested into fighting crime.

Four divisional financial analysts, a financial analyst supervisor and a researcher have been employed by Surrey Police on the back of Poca, allowing more time to be spent monitoring the funds generated by criminal activity.

“Anything they own can be confiscated. Cars, cash, jewellery, Rolex watches, Porsches and plasma screen televisions,” said D Insp Burn.

“If they have a fetish for designer clothes then we can take them. You can literally take the shirt off someone’s back, but we have to be sensible.”

The most D Insp Burn could remember being seized in one go was £650,000, from a couple running a prostitution ring.

This record may be broken once the confiscation order of a Surrey drug trafficking ring, convicted in August, has gone through.

Police stripped drug baron Sean Lynch, of Warlingham of his £1m house alongside a fleet of luxury cars and D Insp Burn predicted the value of seizures would run into hundreds of thousands.

“When we are hitting criminals who are making a full-time living off illegal activity, it is well worth it,” said D Insp Burn.

• Is seizing assets a good deterrent to a life of crime? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.