Sports memorabilia seized from notorious Wolverhampton criminal Carl Johnson has today (9 May) been sent off to auction by police.
Detectives from the Regional Asset Recovery Team were given authority to sell the items by a judge at a court hearing in Birmingham last week under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
The 51-year-old and his brother Tony, 52, were jailed for two years in 2012 for money laundering following a joint investigation between West Midlands Police and HM Revenue & Customs.
It was ruled at Birmingham Crown Court on Wednesday (30 April) that they had jointly benefitted from criminal activity to the tune of £2,454,426.
Both were ordered to pay back hundreds of thousands of pounds and face prison sentences of up to two years if they don’t pay up within the next six months.
The Johnsons provided protection for Solihull tax crook Thomas ‘Tommy’ Scragg who is currently serving a 17-year jail term for three separate fraud convictions.
Using their reputation as local thugs, Carl Tony looked after Scragg as he defrauded the public purse out of £34 million, through his Wednesfield based company Moya Payroll.
The brothers lived extravagant lifestyles using money they received from Scragg in return for their protection services.
In total he paid the brothers, who have a string of convictions for violence and witness intimidation, around £2.4m.
The Proceeds of Crime Act allows police officers to seize assets of convicted criminals depriving them of their ill-gotten gains. These are sold and the cash is ploughed back into local crime fighting initiatives.
Detective Sergeant Derek Tinsley, from the Regional Asset Recovery Team (RART), has been overseeing the confiscation proceedings.
He said: “The sports memorabilia was seized from Carl at the time of his arrest and thanks to Proceeds of Crime legislation we’re able to now sell it off and put the money back where it belongs − into the public purse.
“The Johnsons probably thought they’d spend a couple of years and prison and then come back out to their fortune but what we’ve done is take action to ensure they’re never able to benefit from their criminality.
“We froze and managed their finances at the time of their arrest and then we started proceedings to try and recoup as much of the stolen money as possible.
“Confiscation and forfeiture orders strike right at the heart of the principal motivation for organised crime – money. We will never rest on our laurels as we continue to seek new opportunities to remove assets from offenders.”