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10th April 2024 Issue no. 700

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Proceeds of Crime Act hearing orders compensation payment to security firm

A Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) hearing held Monday 5 December at Maidstone Crown Court certified a criminal benefit against Ian Michael Bowrem, to the value of£3,334,675.

Judge Statman ordered that assets held to the value of £1,111,294 were to be paid within the next 28 days, or a prison sentence of five years and a day would have to be served in default.

Of the amount to be paid by Bowrem, £996,230 will be paid in compensation to Loomis (previously Securitas).

Bowrem, aged 47, previously of Ottery in Devon, was jailed in November 2010 for three years and nine months for concealing criminal property in connection with the£53million Tonbridge robbery in 2006.

Bowrem pleaded guilty to the charge relating to money laundering, on the basis that he believed the cash seized by police from the boot of his car in June 2006 to be the proceeds of crime but had not realised this was money stolen during the Tonbridge robbery.

Detective Inspector Mark Fairhurst from the joint Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate said: 'Linking this case to the Tonbridge robbery was complex. Our investigators travelled to Spain, Switzerland and Dubai. We do not stop at the conviction of offenders; we want to ensure that criminals do not profit from the proceeds of their crimes.

'We will, wherever possible, always seek to recover money or assets through the Proceeds of Crime Act. Today's order is another step for Loomis in reducing their losses from the robbery.'

14th December 2011