Advise On Money Laundering Charges And Seized Items

[Cb123]

2 months ago a bar was raided my boyfriend was there, he got searched and the police found £2000 and a splif of hashish on him, they later raided his home where they found £8000 cash, a rolex watch and a diamond ring, I was arrested also because I was at the premises. So they charged him for suspicion of money laundering and me for knowledge of it. Through all so far correspondence from the police they have left out the ring on all paperwork, which is a very very expensive ring at the station I asked for a recipr/copy of seized items which I still havnt recieved and have heard anything about why would the police not mention the ring when they do mention the watch ?
They have also stopped his bank account and direct debits which is really inconvenient, they did not find anything illegal apart from the splif and the cash can be accounted for by his massive gambling habit which is evident from his bank account as well as the fact he's a self employed business man, the solicitor he has never seems to give a straight answer, has he got any chance of getting any of his stuff back, his bail ends in 3 weeks when he's going back to the station if anyone has any experience of this situation what do you think the outcome will be, please

[Argot123]

My neighbour had a similar issue a few years back. Police raided his house for money laundering. He is self employed and they took computers which he used for his business. They kept extending his bail for nearly a year but when he got a solicitor to write they actually kept the bail appointment all charges were dropped and items were returned to him but the damage had been done as police had gone to clients of his asking questions. He runs a business as a DJ who loans equipment out & trains other DJs. I would complain in writing about the ring not being documented so there is evidence of you raising it

[Cb123]

Thanks he has had a solicitor throughout since this happened I think he's going to see what happens in 3 weeks and if everything is extended which it looks like it may do, an official letter to the police asking about the ring is something he will probably do. The police are trying to create some big case mentioning drug dealing and even drug trafficking, being the way he makes his money, which by the way he doesn't. There really attempting to ruin his life over this which in the grand scheme of things is not a massive amount of money, plus he had nothing illegal, although these days it seems money is becoming illegal.
Thanks for the response

[Argot123]

Sounds very similar to what my neighbour went through. It was a previous employee of his who was disgruntled who made allegations to steel work of him as he knew equipment would be seized. One thing the police kept bringing up was that my neighbours daughters went to private school and how did he pay their fees. Police interaction can be stressful. If it were me I place the complaint regarding the ring through the IPCC (independent police complaints commission) do you have evidence that you had this ring? For example photos and was it insured if it was valuable? I don't trust the police at all as u have had my own experiences. Sad because my brother is one!

[New Judge]

The similarity of your writing styles is truly remarkable, Argot and Cb!

And to think you joined AB within a couple of hours of each other. Remarkable. Truly remarkable.

[Cb123]

The ring and watch were actually belong to a relative who left them with us for safekeeping, he's due back home from Thailand in August so domt know how were going to explain this to him, we were hoping that all will be returned when we return to police station but it's looking unlikely. The ring was bagged up and shown to us at police interview with the watch and my boyfriend said it to the judge at the court during the court hearing for the seizure of the goods

[Cb123]

Are you trying to claim that I'm pretending to be the other poster and answering my own question, why would I do that?

[Argot123]

I am a middle class 30 somethinh female educated to a standard level I guess there are at least a million of us out there who write in a similar type. I actually write reports for a living.

[snags]

I have a surplus of full stops if either of you would like them....

[Argot123]

At snags.........I would prefer some commas if you have a plentiful supply of those too!!.

[Argot123]

CB123 I am a bit confused now as in your question you state that your partner is due to return to the 'station' (I assume police station) in three weeks but in your other response you refer to a judge. If the ring was presented as evidence I a taped interview with police I would assume that the police would say I am showing you exhibit xxxx which is a bag containing a white metal ring for example. I am just guessing they would say that from what ive seen on 24 hours in police custody!!

[Cb123]

To Methyl no casinos do not always give receipts for cash and most of his gambling is done in betting shops where they only give receipts if specifically asked, so he does have some receipts which he had in his wallet. Also his bank account shows numerous large debit payments both out and in of his account to betting shops, which obviously don't account for the cash on him but do show that his gambling habit is considerable (talking 10s of thousands)
By the way I am not born in this country so English is not my first language, I think both my written and spoken English are to a pretty good standard considering this, but will be more careful to check my spellings in future posts

[Cb123]

We are currently on bail which was for 3 months that will be up in 3 weeks where we have to return to the station, i don't know what's going to happen but imagine there will be another interview. We went to court the Monday after all this happened because the police had to bring the case in front of judge in order to get permission to seize our property.
Yes the ring was shown and mentioned in interview, but on all paperwork since from police they mention the amount of cash, the watch but leave out the ring

[aelmpvw]

i spell seized as the op, i could of course be wrong

[New Judge]

Just out of interest, what type of court did you go to? Why did the police need to go to a court to get permission to seize your property? (They have powers to do so without going to court)

[sandyRoe]

Are there light fingered members of the constabulary? I'd find that hard to believe.

[Cb123]

It was a magistrates court, there was a man from SOCA there who was talking to the judge, I'm not sure exactly what the legal name for the hearing is, but we were told at this court that the police would have the right to seize the property for a maximum of 6 months as evidence, I do remember the man from SOCA saying it was a civil matter when we asked if we could have legal aid when in the courtroom, he said legal aid was not free in civil matters.
I'd imagine they do not have the right to just go around seizing peoples money for no reason, no crime had been committed and the only illegal thing found on him was about £5 money worth of hash

[New Judge]

The police do have powers of seizure, Cb. Section 19 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, 1984 (commonly known as "PACE") says this:

General power of seizure etc.

(1) The powers conferred by subsections (2), (3) and (4) below are exercisable by a constable who is lawfully on any premises.

(2) The constable may seize anything which is on the premises if he has reasonable grounds for believing—

(a) that it has been obtained in consequence of the commission of an offence; and

(b) that it is necessary to seize it in order to prevent it being concealed, lost, damaged, altered or destroyed.

(3) The constable may seize anything which is on the premises if he has reasonable grounds for believing—

(a) that it is evidence in relation to an offence which he is investigating or any other offence; and

(b) that it is necessary to seize it in order to prevent the evidence being concealed, lost, altered or destroyed.

The circumstances you describe almost certainly fit the bill for seizure under S19. I think you have so many problems with this matter that whatever advice you receive on here you will still need legal assistance.

[Orderlimit]

The property has been seized under The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA)

bit of a read:

http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/p_to_r/proceeds_of_crime_act_guidance/#a19

bit of a summary

http://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/poca-leaflet.pdf