News Fraudulent letting agent and partner given seven-year sentence IAN LAW / SHUTTERSTOCK PAUL MAGUIRE / SHUTTERSTOCK A letting agent and her former boyfriend have been jailed for stealing more than 400,000 from a Sutton Coldfield lettings agency and its clients over a two-year period. Amy Williams, 28, of Sutton Coldfield, pleaded guilty to 24 offences under the Theft Act 1968 and the Fraud Act 2006. She was sentenced to four-and-a-half years imprisonment at Birmingham Crown Court inApril 2016, and was also disqualified from holding any directorial rolefor seven years. Glen Austin, 46, Erdington, was jailed for two-and-a-half years after he pleaded guilty to one offence under the Theft Act 1968. Numerous complaints from landlords and tenants registered with the duos letting agency Williams & Young were received by trading standards. Starting in February 2015, some 30 victims reported frauds totalling 65,700. Between May and July 2015, Williams stole 408,800 from the companys credit balance, and paid the sum into Austins bank account, at a time when he had made bets of more than 800,000 with bookmaker Ladbrokes. Furthermore, when company funds ran low, Williams began defrauding tenants and landlords directly. She took deposits and advance rent from prospective tenants without passing the amounts onto the landlords. Chris Neville, head of Birmingham Trading Standards, said: Thisfraud was not only heartless, leaving landlords and tenants out of pocket, but it was foolish using company funds to finance a string ofbets to raise more money. Tenants paid deposits and advance rents to Williams & Young in good faith and, in some cases, landlords were unaware this was the case, as the money had not been passed on. This court action shows we will pursue and prosecute those unscrupulous individuals responsible, and I welcome the judges ruling in this case. Glasgow kicks out criminal counterfeiters Restaurateur prosecuted A director and restaurant in Derby have been prosecuted for misleading customers by advertising a Food Hygiene Rating of five when it had been awarded a zero. In April, Derby Trading Standards successfully prosecuted director Rushan Ahmed, and the limited company, Four Brothers (Derby), behind Moza Indian restaurant. Sentencing, the magistrates said: This was a serious offence and it could easily have had a detrimental effect on other businesses in the area. Four Brothers (Derby) was given a 2,000 fine, ordered to pay 1,051 costs and a 120 victim surcharge. Rushan Ahmed was given a 200 fine, ordered to pay 1,051 costs and a 20 victim surcharge. More than 30m of fake goods have been seized and 100 arrests have been made during a three-year operation targeting illegal counterfeiters operating in the Barras Market area of Glasgow. Operation Salang is a multi-agency partnership between the Scottish Anti Illicit Trade Group, trading standards departments, Police Scotland, the Scottish government, the UK Intellectual Property Office and numerous organisations from the business community. The operation has resulted in: G More than30m poundsworth of fake goods being seized, including fake eBooks, clothing, footwear, electrical goods, tobacco products and watches G Arrestsof 100 counterfeit traders and intellectual property criminals G Theremoval of stallsselling fake goods in Barras market G The return oflegitimate businessto the area G Award 5m to help regenerate the area Following the successful crackdown, and signs of legitimate businesses returning, Glasgow City Council, in conjunction with the Scottish Government, has allocated 5m to regenerate the area and help the community rebuild and thrive. On 27 May, the Scottish Anti-Illicit Trade Group (SAITG), together with the Scottish Business Resilience Centre, were due to hold a two-pronged Real McCoy event in Glasgow city centre to raise publicawareness of the trade in counterfeit and illicit goods. Linda Gray, ofSAITG, said: Partnership working has resulted in a much more effective approach to tackling market places, which were previously infamous for selling illicit goods. Regeneration of the area is well under way, with 5mspecifically being allocated for ongoing work. Six buildings that were previously empty are now being used for new ventures, such as artists studios with opportunities for young people. One of the other buildings, St Lukes, which is used as a music venue, has reported 25 new jobs as a result. The work in this area could potentially lead to even further funding; the proposals contained in the Barras masterplan are expected to inform and guide City Deal spending in this location. Short-weight bread fine for Newry baker A bakery in Newry, Northern Ireland, was fined 525 at Newry Magistrates Court in May for selling short-weight bread. In a case brought by the Trading Standards Service of the Department for the Economy, Sunray (Home Bakeries) pleaded guilty to 21 charges under the Weights and Measures (Packaged Goods) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2011. In August 2015, a consumer complaint was received by Consumerline alleging short-weight cornbread packed by Sunray (Home Bakeries). Investigating the complaint, trading standards officer Dr Stuart MacMurdo visited several large food retail outlets in the Newry area and discovered serious weight deficiencies in a wide range of different breads produced by the firm. On visiting the bakery premises, Dr MacMurdo discovered that the company had failed to comply with its legal duty to carry out weight checks on the various breads, and to keep records of such checks. Illegal tobacco seller jailed for 15 months A long-standing problem business has finally been given a substantial sentence at Leeds Crown Court after a sustained campaign by West Yorkshire Trading Standards Service (WYTSS) to make the trader clean up his act. Arkan Rashid Ahmad of Dewsbury, was charged at Leeds Crown Court in April with possessing illicit tobacco products with intent to supply at his Global Groceries store. Arkan pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 15months imprisonment and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of 100. Thetobacco products were forfeited and destroyed. Global Groceries is well known to WYTSS, with the service first receiving complaints about the premises supplying illicit, duty-free tobacco in June 2010. Illicit tobacco was first seized from the premises in May 2011. Then, in February 2012, trading standards officers (TSOs) and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) seized further tobacco products. On 10 January 2014, after receiving another complaint, WYTSS visited the premises with a tobacco detection sniffer dog. Illicit tobacco products were found hidden underneath a shelving unit. Later that day, West Yorkshire Police received information that the shop had restocked its supplies. Officers then re-visited the shop and further illegal tobacco products were found, both on site and in a basement storage unit. A further inspection was carried out on 19 May 2014, when Ahmad was working in the shop. Officers found a hole cut out of the oor in the storeroom beneath crates of soft drinks, where Analysis Originally, the pre-sentence report recommended a suspended sentence plus unpaid work in the community. However, the Recorder was unable to accept that. He stressed not only the loss of duty and tax estimated at upwards of 90,000 but also that: fraudulent trading had taken place over a significant period; customers could be misled as to what they were buying; and there was in his view a significant aggravating factor in that there was, or could be, an additional health risk posed by other substances in the illicit products. The three offences contrary to the Trade Marks Act were left on file, effectively being incorporated into the main offence. Even though the defendant was charged with fraudulent trading, the Recorder considered that this was really a revenue offence. David Lodge, head of WYTSS, said: The case was taken as a result of persistent offending on behalf of the business, which led us to use fraudulent trading offences rather than either Trade Marks or Tobacco Labelling Regulations. One of the lessons learnt is that by undertaking multiple visits to premises builds up a picture, which in turn provides sufficient evidence to use fraud offences in this way. Another factor that other trading standards departments may wish to consider is that getting these cases through court is expensive and there is little chance of recovering costs. more than 39,000 illicit cigarettes and 209 packs of illicit rolling tobacco were seized. Ahmad claimed to know nothing about them. Excise duty owed was 11,827. A search of storage units revealed a further 120,000 illicit cigarettes and 449 packs of illicit hand-rolling tobacco. Excise duty owed on this amounted to 34,481. From the editor Over the past year, CTSI has been raising awareness of the importance of trading standards illicit tobacco products work with magistrates, in the hope that longer sentences will start to be imposed for an offence that has links to serious organised crime. In September 2015, CTSI chief executive Leon Livermore spoke at a Magistrates Association event, and information was supplied to the associations magazine for a recent article on sentencing guidelines. It is hoped that continued efforts by individual trading standards services, HM Revenue and Customs and awareness-raising work, such as this by CTSI, will start to have an impact on what has typically been low ne and sentence punishments.