Millions seized from criminals in Wales under Proceeds of Crime Act
Millions of pounds have been seized from criminals in Wales this year after they made money from their offences. The Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) enables the courts to recuperate money made by criminals during the course of their offending. This year the courts have seen organised crime gangs, drug dealers, rogue builders, fraudsters, and other criminals handed hefty bills. Many of these criminals were ordered to pay back very large sums, while some were told to pay back substantially less.
Thomas Davies and Jacqueline Davies: Drug dealer and parents ordered to repay
Drug dealer Thomas Davies led an organised crime group with his brother and employed his parents to launder money made through the sale of cocaine. He was ordered to pay back £41,000 despite benefiting by more than £1m. Davies, 39, and his brother Jack Davies, 38, headed up a conspiracy which saw multiple kilograms of cocaine being driven to south Wales by couriers. The drugs were then cut down into lower purity cocaine and sold on in varying amounts from kilograms to grams.
Jacqueline Davies, 60, and Byron Davies, 67, the parents of Thomas and Jack, helped to launder money for their sons with a safe in Byron's home found to contain £57,000. A shell company called Valley Self Storage was also set up to launder the funds. Thomas Davies' partner Nicole Locke, 32, acted as a street dealer dealing with the day-to-day "gram" customers and "washed" the cocaine into crack cocaine.
Christopher Adams, 40, Scott Alway, 36, and Steven Evans, 39, acted as couriers for the group, travelling across the UK to pick up multi-kilogram amounts of cocaine to bring back to south Wales for onward sale. When Steven Evans was arrested he was discovered with £23,000 worth of cash in a safe and had more than £50,000 unexplained cash in his bank accounts.
Gavin Etchell, 43, also acted as a courier and a high-level street dealer, supplying ounce amounts of cocaine to street dealers. He was stopped by police on July 23, 2020 on the A40 trunk road in Monmouth in a BMW. On February 9, 2021, police executed warrants targeting the Davies brothers. More than two kilograms of cocaine were recovered along with 50kg of cutting agent, two hydraulic presses, and blenders. These were found in a drugs factory set up in a garage at the rear of Partridge Road, Trealaw, which was rented by the Davies brothers for £50 per month.
Thomas Davies, of Buckley Road, Trealaw, Tonypandy, was sentenced to 16 years imprisonment for conspiracy to supply crack cocaine and cocaine and being concerned in arrangement to facilitate acquisition or control of criminal property following a sentencing hearing in 2024. A Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) hearing at Cardiff Crown Court heard Thomas Davies benefited to the tune of £1,391,829 as a result of his offending but only had available assets worth £41,000. In July 2024 Jacqueline Davies from Trealaw, Tonypandy, was given a two-year prison sentence. Earlier this year she was found to have benefited by £199,000 and was ordered to pay back available assets of £112,490.
Michael and Sandra Anderson: Rogue builder and wife ordered to repay
Michael Anderson, 76, defrauded multiple homeowners and stripped them of tens of thousands of pounds. He was ordered to pay back more than £100,000 despite benefiting by more than £1m. His wife Sandra Anderson, 66, the owner of bank accounts used to hold money her husband had fraudulently obtained, was ordered to pay back £94,000. Anderson, who described himself as a "builder extraordinaire" on advertising material, shafted multiple residents in Porthcawl to the tune of £263,607.43 over the space of four years – almost ruining their lives in the process.
The defendant, of Danygraig Avenue, Porthcawl, who had worked as a builder all his life, told all six of his victims he would never rip them off before proceeding to do just that. In powerful statements read to a sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court last year one of the victims said she had suicidal thoughts as a result of what Anderson did to her while a couple said they had to remortgage their “dream” home because they’d given so much of their money to Anderson.
On all occasions Anderson did not complete the work he promised to do and also billed the victims significantly more than what he’d initially quoted. He left the houses in shoddy states of disrepair with some of them leaking and others far from finished before he walked away with the money.
Anderson was originally charged with three counts of fraud and one count of dishonesty by false representation before another victim came forward and Anderson was charged with a fourth count of fraud. His wife Sandra Anderson, 66, also of Danygraig Avenue, was charged with possessing criminal property for being the owner of a bank account holding £35,000 of the £263,000 which Anderson had obtained fraudulently. Michael Anderson was sentenced to three years and six months, at least half of which he’ll serve in custody before being released on licence. Sandra Anderson received an 18-week jail term suspended for 12 months. She must also wear an electric tag preventing her from leaving home between 7pm and 6am.
William Hanson: Conman ordered to pay back over £1m
William Hanson, 51, conned "elderly and vulnerable" people out of thousands of pounds by telling them they had to have work done that wasn't needed has been ordered to pay back more than £1m. He "grossly overcharged" his victims and told them they required work which totalled more than £175,000. Hanson lied about the extent of work that needed to be carried out and “targeted” people who then needed extensive repairs to correct issues.
One victim from Cardiff was told in June 2020 that his roof was rotten and needed replacing – something that would cost about £30,000. The victim forked out £21,750 for work that was not needed and then spent £13,500 on rectifying problems. Another victim, who lived in the same street and was aged 86, was also told by Hanson that he needed a new roof which would cost more than £68,000. His total loss was more than £87,000. The roof required was a “localised repair” which would normally cost a small fraction of the amount paid.
A third victim, from Barry, was told his garage was unsafe and that £17,700 worth of work had to be carried out – work which was described as “substandard and incomplete”. A fourth victim – a 93-year-old woman – died in September 2023. The court heard how Hanson stole £35,000 from her when she thought she owed £3,500 before a zero was added to her bill. Her son told the court in a victim statement that a refund cheque was given to his mother but it later bounced. A refund of £15,000 was eventually paid, which still left the victim £20,000 out of pocket.
Hanson, of Trowbridge Green, Cardiff, was described as someone who “targeted elderly and vulnerable consumers and grossly overcharged them”. In total the court was told that he was responsible for combined losses of £175,875 when the victims’ bills were calculated together. He was sentenced to five years and two months in prison. He will serve half of that term in custody with the remainder on licence. He was also made the subject of a criminal behaviour order meaning he is banned from carrying out any building, maintenance, or gardening work on the home of any individual in the UK for a period of 10 years.
The defendant was sentenced again in March last year to one month and three weeks in prison for fly-tipping on land earmarked for social housing. On April 6, 2023, the site manager of a parcel of land off Crickhowell Road in St Mellons, Cardiff – a site which had been earmarked for regeneration including a social housing development – saw a Hanson Tipper & Grab Hire Ltd lorry depositing waste. The court heard that though the land was fenced off the original padlock on the gate had been removed and replaced with a new one to which the men in the Hanson truck had a key. There had been "very significant" dumping of waste on the land amounting to 800 tonnes but that by the defendant's basis of plea – a plea which had been accepted – only 80 tonnes of that was attributable to the defendant through his directorship of Hanson Tipper & Grab Hire.
A Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) hearing at Cardiff Crown Court heard Hanson benefited to the tune of £1,079,831 as a result of his offending and has available assets for that sum. Judge Shomon Khan ordered the defendant to pay £1,079,831 within three months or serve an additional seven years imprisonment in default.
Liza Haines: Fraudster ordered to pay back tens of thousands
Liza Haines, 54, systematically drained the bank account of the not-for-profit firm she worked for and was ordered to pay back tens of thousands of pounds of her ill-gotten gains. She was operations manager of Pembroke-based Sazani Associates – which supports education and sustainable development projects in Europe and Africa – when she abused her position of trust to steal a quarter of a million pounds from its coffers over a five-year period. The theft forced the organisation to close offices, cancel projects, and make a number of staff redundant. The firm was also left with a large tax bill.
Haines, of Clos Cilsaig, Dafen, Llanelli, was sentenced at Swansea Crown Court to four years in prison after pleading guilty to fraud. Judge Paul Hobson said the defendant's motivation had been "greed" and said she would have been fully aware of the damage she was causing the organisation. Following the sentencing a Proceeds of Crime Act or POCA investigation was launched into Haines' finances. Haines had benefited from her criminal conduct to the tune of £305,893 and investigators had identified £46,805 in available assets including equity in a property and half the value of a car. Judge Huw Rees made the requested confiscation and compensation orders and gave Haines three months to pay the £46,804 or face six months in prison.
Issac Izar: Property manager ordered to pay back £42,000
Issac Izar, 58, allowed a property to be used by an organised crime gang to grow cannabis. He was ordered to pay back £42,000 despite benefiting by more than £200,000. The cannabis factory was exposed following the murder of a young man. Izar was the managing agent for the owners of 319 Newport Road in Cardiff. He admitted permitting the production of cannabis to take place there. By the end of January 2021 there was a "flourishing cannabis grow" at the property over eight separate areas and three floors with the property adapted to produce wholesale quantities. In total there were 572 cannabis plants across various stages of growth. The estimated yield was between 16kg and 48kg with a potential value between £64,000 and £249,000.
Tomasz Waga, who was 23, travelled to Cardiff from London in 2021 to steal £120,000 worth of cannabis plants. However, unbeknownst to him, the gardener was in the factory and called other members of a crime group. Mr Waga was beaten with a baseball bat, a bamboo cane, and half a house brick. He was also kicked and stamped in the head and body before being dragged out of the house and thrown into a Mercedes car. He suffered 28 injuries to his head and mouth, bruising to his chest, and damage to his seventh, eighth, and 10th ribs, to his arms, and a degree of swelling and bruising to his brain. He was driven from 319 Newport Road and his body was dumped in Westville Road and his mobile phone was taken. Mr Waga was found by a passer-by the same evening. The cause of death was given as obstruction to the airways by blood.
Following the killing three men fled to Albania but were eventually extradited back to the UK before standing trial. Josif Nushi and Mihal Dhana were found guilty of murder and were given life sentences. Hysland Aliaj was jailed for 10 years for manslaughter. Izar was not involved in the attack on Mr Waga or responsible for his death. However Cardiff Crown Court was told that Izar allowed the property to knowingly be used as a cannabis farm and in doing so had "set off a series of events which led to Mr Waga's murder". The court was told inquiries from South Wales Police into the murder led them to discover the contact Izar had with one of those conspiring to produce the cannabis and was a member of the organised crime group.
Izar pleaded guilty to permitting the production of cannabis and was sentenced to 21 months in prison, suspended for two years, at a sentencing hearing in 2023. He was also ordered to complete 250 hours unpaid work. Izar benefited to the tune of £200,295 as a result of his offending but only had assets worth £42,218. The Recorder of Cardiff Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke ordered the defendant to pay that sum within three months or serve 18 months imprisonment in default.
Luke Montgomery: Drug dealer ordered to pay back £37,000
Luke Montgomery, 23, was found in possession of crack cocaine hidden in a nappy. He was ordered to pay back £37,000 despite benefiting by almost £200,000. He was arrested in a dramatic fashion after he attempted to flee and an officer pointed a Taser at him. The defendant was arrested after police were called out in Newport to reports of a man in possession of a knife. Montgomery was seen near Caerleon Road and ran off as he was chased by an officer, narrowly missing a passing car. The defendant refused to listen to the officer's demands to stop and place his hands behind his back. On body-worn video footage he could be seen pulling cash out of his pockets and shouting: "I've got nothing on me" and: "What have I done?".
Following his arrest Montgomery and his property were searched and he was found in possession of heroin, cocaine, and crack cocaine with £196,900. He was also found in possession of £37,000 in cash, mobile phones, and a machete discarded by the defendant and found underneath a police car. Montgomery, of Highbank, Newport, later pleaded guilty to three counts of possession with intent to supply Class A and B drugs, possession of a knife, being concerned in the supply of cocaine, possession of cannabis, and possession of criminal property. Judge Paul Hobson sentenced the defendant to eight years and four months imprisonment. A Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) hearing at Cardiff Crown Court heard Montgomery benefited to the tune of £191,821 as a result of his offending, but only has assets worth £37,449. The defendant was ordered to pay that sum made up of the cash already seized by the police.
