Gang jailed over £20m fraud bid

Four men who tried to steal about £20m from a high street bank using a flaw in the system have been jailed.

The gang paid bogus cheques into the NatWest account of Merseyside firm Britanniacity, then swiftly moved the money to accounts in Riga, Latvia.

Police in Latvia realised it was a scam and the accounts were frozen, London's Southwark Crown Court heard.

A man from Greater Manchester, two from Merseyside and another from Paisley admitted conspiracy to defraud.

Ringleader Lee Quincey, 41, from Ashton-under-Lyne, was jailed for five years 11 months and banned from being a company director for eight years.

Darren Lee, 35, of Caldy Road, Aintree, Liverpool, and Martin Williams, 29, of Bailey Drive, Bootle, Merseyside were each jailed for five years and nine months.

Ian Clark, 38, of Nelson Road, Paisley, Renfrewshire - described in court as an "errand boy" - was handed a three-year sentence.

Fraud 'signposted'

The court heard that a letter from NatWest had warned customers of a possible delay in funds being cleared following its takeover by the Royal Bank of Scotland.

The letter stated that while funds would be shown as "cleared on the third working day", cheques could still end up bouncing.

Prosecutors said the letter "effectively signposted a licence to print money", telling the gang it was possible to take cash that might not exist.

The four set up a bogus deal for the purchase of 38,000 mobile phone handsets which did not exist.

Before the Mayday bank holiday in 2004 they paid fake cheques totalling £20m into the account of Brittaniacity, which they controlled, at a branch in St Helens, Merseyside.

Clark paid in cheques with a face value of more than £15m, while a second man later credited the account with a further £5m.

On the Friday, Brittaniacity's account showed the funds had been cleared and the men started moving the money to different accounts.

Once in the eastern European capital it was paid into an account Quinn opened in the name of Alverton Finance Ltd.

City of London police were contacted and the account was frozen, stopping it from reaching its final destination in Dubai, the court heard.