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Successful prosecution by Ben Campbell and Richard Holland of “Bespoke” company fraudsters

On 3 March 2020 at Leeds Crown Court, HHJ Stubbs QC sentenced 5 defendants to a total of 19 years’ imprisonment following a successful joint Trading Standards and West Yorkshire Police investigation, concerning three conspiracies to defraud, prosecuted by Ben Campbell and Richard Holland.

A sixth defendant, Nasar Munir, is due to be sentenced later in March for the same offences.

The fraudsters set up a number of companies designed to target and cold-call elderly and vulnerable victims, before engaging in false, misleading and aggressive sale tactics in order to force them to purchase security equipment and home improvement works. Some customers had loans obtained without their knowledge. Most of the defendants were members of a Whats-App group where they mocked their victims.

Mansha Abbas and Nasar Munir were further convicted of a separate fraud involving the presentation of a Chip and PIN card machine to customers suggesting they were due a refund, before withdrawing thousands of pounds from the victims’ bank accounts without their knowledge. Roman Le was convicted of facilitating the money laundering of the intended proceeds of the fraud, pleading guilty mid-way through his trial.

This was a complex prosecution, with many thousands of pages of evidence and unused material, and a number of vulnerable victims. Ben and Richard were able to provide crucial support to investigators concerning the analysis of an incriminating mobile telephone recovered from one of the defendants.

More details of the case can be found here: