A COMPLEX fraud case involving a Swindon man has seen Wiltshire Police rake in one of their biggest confiscation orders in history standing at £3.8m.

Stephen Smith, 61, from Hook, was jailed for eight-and-a-half years back in 2016 for his part in the ‘industrial scale’ thefts from British Telecom after being found guilty of one count of conspiracy to steal and three counts of conspiracy to money launder.

Smith had worked for BT before starting his own company, Telkom International Limited which specialised in selling equipment to the telecommunications market.

The conspiracy involved the theft of large amounts of expensive equipment from BT, which was then cleared of markings and labelling and sold on.

BT thought it had £2m worth of equipment stolen from Carillion Telent PLC at Chelmsford between 2009 and 2011.

A foreman at the site, would order items which were not needed. These were then transported to Smith’s company in Royal Wootton Bassett.

Following a tip-off, police raided Telkom after seeing workers taking the markings off during an undercover visit.

Smith was just one of six people involved prompting police to launch Operation Starling and four of the other defendants were found guilty by jury and sentenced back in March 2016 for their part in the theft.

The sixth defendant, Caroline Woodcraft, was found guilty following a trial in June 2017.

On January 5, at Bristol Crown Court, the confiscation order secured against Philip Woodcraft and his wife Caroline was the final in the series of orders made in the aftermath of the Operation Starling sentencing and amounted to £3,827,820.01.

Confiscation orders have previously been made against Stephen Smith for £1,710,002.32, Martin Kilford for £48,637.13, Karen Allen for £86,575 and Ronald Porter, for £5,215.28. Porter was also the subject of a cash forfeiture order for £104,644.94 in respect of cash that was found in the boot of his car when it was searched by police.

Wiltshire Police Financial Investigator Andrew Stonell said: “The conspirators exploited a loophole in BT’s distribution and supply chain allowing them to steal vast quantities of equipment which were then sold through Smith’s company - Telkom International Ltd based in Royal Wootton Bassett.

“The proceeds were then laundered through a range of companies owned and controlled by various conspirators by means of false invoices and purchase orders in an attempt to create the illusion that the transactions represented legitimate trade.

“Police successfully traced laundered funds through a range of entities in the UK and offshore including companies registered in the British Virgin Islands with bank accounts in the Isle-of-Man and Dubai.

“In respect of the latest order there is in excess of £2.3m restrained in bank accounts, plus properties valued at £1.5m along with vehicles and items of jewellery.

“It is anticipated that the eventual recovery will exceed well over £5m, of which 18 per cent will come back into Wiltshire Police, and £1m will be returned to BT by way of compensation.”

The other defendants involved in the case include Ronald Porter, 53, of Siward Road, Witham, Essex who was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to steal and sentenced to four years imprisonment; Philip Woodcraft, 57, of Gorsley, Ross-On-Wye, found guilty of one count of conspiracy to money launder and sentenced to three-and-a-half years imprisonment; Karen Allan, 59, of Rudgard Road, Coventry, found guilty of conspiracy to money launder and sentenced to two years imprisonment suspended for two years; Martin Kilford, 52, from Dydale Road, pleaded guilty to all four counts at an earlier date and sentenced to two years and four months imprisonment and Caroline Woodcraft, 51, of Gorsley, Ross on Wye, found guilty of one count of conspiracy to money launder and sentenced to two years imprisonment suspended for two years.