Criminal cash seized by police

MILLIONS OF pounds have been clawed back from criminals’ ill-gotten earnings over the past year, West Yorkshire Police has revealed.

Nearly £10.5m was seized from criminals in West Yorkshire during the last financial year.

The money was seized by the force’s Economic Crime teams, and has been used to compensate victims where possible, with the remaining cash redistributed into communities and to support policing.

Cash is typically confiscated from criminals arrested by officers for drugs offences and by the courts for those convicted of fraud and other financial crimes.

A total of £10,435,799.51 was stripped from criminals’ assets – which the force said was the highest amount ever achieved in any one year.

More than half of the money - £5,215,918 - was used to recompensate victims of crimes such as fraud and theft.

The remaining £5,180,584.58 was used as Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) money, which is reinvested back into the community through projects aimed at reducing crime or supporting victims, as well as bolstering community police work.

Detective Chief Superintendent Pat Twiggs, Head of Crime for the force, said: “I am immensely proud of the work and contribution by all staff involved to remove the ill-gotten gains from criminals who don’t stop to think about the impact their greed has on victims or the wider community.

“We regularly speak to victims who have been conned out of their money by criminals who are often known to them or who manage to become involved in their personal lives. Being the victim of a crime can been an incredibly distressing time for a victim but we are at least bringing some resolution to them.”

‘I am immensely proud of the work and contribution by all staff involved...’

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