Tess Vaughan, the long-term partner of convicted police killer and money launderer Timmy Donovan, has admitted to possessing criminal cash. The 35-year-old appeared in court on Monday (August 24) after being accused of three charges of possessing criminal property.
Vaughan pleaded guilty to two of the three charges and is scheduled to return to Liverpool Crown Court on September 22 for sentencing. A confiscation order on her profits from criminal activity will be made during the sentencing.
Background of Donovan's criminal career
Donovan, 41, is currently serving more than 14 years in prison for selling 23.7kg of cocaine, 1kg of heroin and laundering at least £10m through services offered on the EncroChat network. He was convicted of the manslaughter of PC Neil Doyle, who died after being attacked while on a night out during Christmas in 2014.
After being released on licence, Donovan became part of a gang sentenced at Manchester Crown Court in February last year over the drug and money laundering conspiracy. Gary Cathcart, head of financial investigation at the National Crime Agency (NCA), said at the time: "Donovan is a dangerous individual who returned to criminality as soon as he left prison," the Echo reports.
Family connections and previous convictions
Donovan was sentenced alongside James Vaughan, the older brother of Tess, who was previously on the NCA's most wanted fugitives list. The siblings, plus older brother Stephen Jnr, are the children of former Chester City FC owner Stephen. Stephen Snr was also chairman of Widnes Vikings but was later disqualified from acting as a director of any company due to his involvement in a £500,000 VAT fraud.
Stephen Snr and Jnr were later involved in an incident that saw the former fracture a police officer's cheek. Stephen found himself back in court in 2016 after being convicted of perverting the course of justice by allowing Donovan to use his Mercedes to escape to Germany in the hours after PC Doyle was killed.
The manslaughter and subsequent crimes
Donovan and Andrew Taylor taunted PC Doyle by saying "evening officer" before warning the officer and his off-duty colleagues "not to front me". PC Doyle was hit with a "piledriver punch" while his colleague PC Robert Marshall was knocked to the ground and stamped on.
Donovan fled the UK before being apprehended by German police and returned to the UK. He received a sentence of six years and 10 months before his release on licence. His lawyer told the court last year that he was "immensely remorseful and regretful" about his manslaughter conviction, but instead of repaying society he sought out a life of crime using an EncroChat device.
Using the handles "Astralcleaner" and "Legendarytooth", Donovan was the "leading player" in the separate drug and money laundering conspiracies. A spreadsheet created by Donovan showed that more than £3.4m was owed "in eng". The NCA said when Donovan was arrested, "almost every door" in his house on Walsingham Road, Childwall - the same address Tess Vaughan provided to the court - was specially reinforced.
Donovan was convicted along with Aaron O'Sullivan, who helped him supply cocaine and launder money. Donovan chased debts via O'Sullivan, who arranged collection through couriers Kenneth Kean and Paul Duncan. James Vaughan collected, stored and counted money for Donovan before fleeing to Spain. Christopher Roper worked at the Wavertree Car Centre, where he stored large amounts of criminal cash and arranged transfers for a fee.
Upcoming hearings and charges
Donovan is subject to applications for both a serious crime prevention order (SCPO) and a proceeds of crime confiscation application. Both hearings will be held at Manchester Crown Court on January 27 next year. The NCA also confirmed a contested forfeiture hearing relating to £285,000 seized from a business premises associated with Roper in Liverpool on December 17.
The particulars of the two charges Tess Vaughan admitted are that "between January 2019 and September 2023, she was in possession of cash which she knew or suspected constituted or represented benefit from criminal conduct", and "between September 2021 and September 2023, she was in possession of and used criminal property which she knew or suspected constituted or represented benefit from criminal conduct".
