Ex-Detective Sergeant Christopher Taylor First Debt Recovery Ltd Advance Fee Fraud & Money Laundering Wakefield, Other

Ex-Detective Sergeant Christopher Taylor was sentenced to three six months in prison for money laundering at Suffolk Crow Court on 12 July.

Sentencing Taylor, the judge told him: “As a former experienced and commended police officer you played no part in the conspiracies but were prepared to sacrifice your good name for one sole aim: money.”

Prosecutor Nicholas Lobbenberg told the court thay Taylor profited by about £900,000.

Alex Dos Santos, mitigating, said Taylor had operated an otherwise legitimate debt recovery company and had allowed his bank accounts to be used in the fraud.

Wrong Mr. Santos! Taylor ran First Debt Recovery in much the same way that Muldoon opearted his own busiess - upfront fees! And when people wanted their money back, Taylor's heavies would even threaten to kill!!

As an ex-Police Officer, Taylor is going to have a tough time in jail. Let's hope that Suffolk Trading Standards/Police can confiscate Taylor's assets to the tune of £900,000.

http://www.eadt.co.uk/news/suffolk_dating_agency_and_debt_elimination_fraudsters_jailed_for_total_of_32_years_1_2276612

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-23292367

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/5012047/Gang-got-57m-in-date-con.html

Ex-detective Christopher Taylor, embarked on a second career as a debt collector upon his retirement from West Yorkshire Police; that career is now, almost certainly over, following his conviction for money laundering in £5.7m debt elimination and bogus escort agency scams.

Taylor dreamed of bringing other former Police Officers into his debt collection business but now he will probably have to live with the nightmare suffered by many other convicted West Yorkshire Police Officers - living in prison, possibly with those he had previously helped to convict.

Taylor, an ex-fraud squad detective, was described in Court, by a former colleague, as an ‘outstanding’ officer, so how could Taylor be so naive as to become involved with a notorious and well-publicised convicted timeshare conman, Toni Muldoon?

Taylor entered into a business deal during an apparently chance meeting with Muldoon in a tourist bar on the Costa del Sol. In just one hour, Taylor had sealed his ultimate fate. Taylor had claimed in Court that he could not form a full opinion of Muldoon in just one hour, but he continued to work for Muldoon for the next three years, even allowing Muldoon direct access to his business bank account.

Surely, in the space of those three years, Taylor must have realised he was laundering money for a convicted con man? Taylor claims he did not know or suspect anything, despite newspaper cuttings being found in Taylor’s possession about Muldoon’s fraudulent activities. Trading Standards officers even found a partially completed biography, written by Taylor, about Muldoon, entitled: Born to be a Costa Conman, on Taylor’s computer.

Taylor was naive, of course, in believing that he would never be caught. Before setting up as a debt collector, Taylor received advice from Trading Standards on how to avoid any involvement in money-laundering. Such advice, fell on this ex-fraud detective’s deaf ears. And, in a twist of irony, it was Trading Standards who successfully prosecuted Taylor for that very offence. Taylor clearly never thought that Suffolk Trading Standards would pursue a case that necessitated international arrest warrants, extradition or the searching of foreign bank accounts.

When Muldoon’s bank accounts were being frozen and the Ministry of Justice was getting involved, Muldoon confided in Taylor by email: “It has been non-stop rebuilding bridges torn down by the banks. You know me. I will not be beaten.”

But Muldoon was beaten and did capitulate, pleading guilty before the trial even came to Court, just as he had done in Spain a few years earlier for a time share scam he had masterminded. Taylor’s mistake was to believe he could fool the jury with a not guilty plea on the basis that a former Police Officer would not get involved in any criminal activity. His bluff failed and he will surely pay the price with a heavier sentence.

There is still the question of Taylor’s own debt collection business, which he ran separately from the debt elimination scam run by Muldoon but apparently used the same bank account. Taylor would claim that this was a legitimate business whose downfall only came about because he gave Muldoon access to that bank account.

But what legitimate debt collection agency charges upfront fees of £595 (similar to Muldoon’s Debt elimination scam) and not have a Consumer Credit Licence? First Debt Recovery operated without any such licence and charged those fees to clients.

Taylor was instrumental in setting up Baker and Bond Ltd and Baker and Bond (UK) Ltd. These debt collection agencies also charged upfront fees of £595 and neither held a Consumer Credit Licence. Both were closed down by the High Court ‘in the public interest’.

Taylor’s involvement with Muldoon and his association with Ian Burrow, who ran two debt collection agencies for Taylor as well as four on his own, that charged upfront fees, clearly indicate that Taylor is not averse to forming business relationships with persons of dubious character. That must bring into question his whole career as a Police officer and what personal and business relationships he formed during that time. Taylor’s wife remains a serving Police Officer with West Yorkshire Police.

This case was the largest ever brought by Suffolk Trading Standards and its costs are currently being born by Suffolk Council taxpayers. There are likely to be further investigations to recover ill-gotten gains as well as attempts to recover the costs of the 3+ year investigation and a ten week trial. Trading Standards may like to consider Taylor’s ownership of a holiday cottage in Whitby and his house in Oxford Road, Wakefield.

As well as Taylor and Muldoon, all four other defendants were found guilty and remain in custody for sentencing next month.