Devils wear Prada but good folk profit from their ill-gotten gains
On an industrial estate in Newport, bargain-hunters hope to pick up designer goods seized from criminals by the authorities for a fraction of their price. Thomas Deacon went along...
IF someone offered you a top designer handbag for half the price you’d probably think it’d fallen off the back of a van.
But that’s exactly what was on offer in Newport on Wednesday evening.
A £50,000 Range Rover was bought for a fifth of that price, there was designer gear galore, and someone even bought a boat.
Tucked away on an industrial estate, bargain-hunters came out in the hope of picking up designer goods seized from criminals for a fraction of their price.
After most of the regular auctiongoers had packed up after a standard car sale, extra seats were put out and the warehouse began to bustle with excitement.
This is a government auction, regularly held to sell items to help refund the victims of convicted criminals.
People pile into the warehouse, all trying to catch a glimpse of just some of the top-end watches and clothes before the auction starts.
The unreserved government auction at Wilsons Auctions saw more than 80 items go under the hammer. At this earlier auction in February, £100,000 worth of designer goods went up for sale.
They included a 2012 Range Rover Vogue purchased new by criminals for £51,000 in the north west of England. It was sold to a group of young men at the auction for £10,250.
A drug-dealing couple had the vehicle seized after officers raiding their home in 2014 found MDMA and cannabis stashed in their loft.
Shiraz and Salina Sharif, aged 45 and 46, were convicted of money laundering at Manchester Crown Court in 2015.
The couple brazenly claimed £40,000 in child tax credits – despite making almost £500,000 from drug dealing, spending thousands on fivestar holidays and paying expensive school fees.
Constable Dave Berry said: “It may seem like a great idea when you’re flying to destinations like Florida and the Egyptian Red Sea, but that feeling will soon turn to regret when you’re sat in a prison cell.”
Shiraz failed to arrive in court and was found guilty in his absence. Salina was sentenced to 30 months’ imprisonment and Shiraz was sentenced to four years and six months.
At a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing in 2017 it was decided the pair’s criminal benefit over a six-year period was £473,257.
In Newport on Wednesday night bidders had the chance to purchase a wide range of designer goods from Dolce & Gabbana and Michael Kors to Gucci, Karl Lagerfeld and Prada.
One of the lots was even a designer balaclava worth more than £140.
Sitting in the front row eagerly watching each lot appear on the large TV screen behind the auctioneers, Matt Stanton regularly bids on various items.
The father of two from Newport often attends the government auctions, but has no idea what he’ll come away with.
At the latest auction the managing director picked up a boat.
Matt, 44, said: “I just come to these to see what bargains there are. I’ve bought a lot of stuff for my children tonight. I’ve lost count of everything I’ve bought so far, actually.
“I bought the boat. I like the idea of a boat. It’s in Essex at the moment so I’m not sure how I’ll get it back here. People who know me know that I’m quite impulsive and I do impulsive things like that.”
Matt picked up the mid-1970s boat for £1,600, excluding commission.
Although clearly a fan of the auction atmosphere, Matt believes the auctions are a positive result of prosecutions.
Matt said: “It doesn’t bother me that a criminal once owned the items. It was bought through illegitimate means and now it’s being bought back legitimately to help the victims.”
Family-owned Wilsons Auctions manages the whole process for a number of government agencies and more than 40 law enforcement agencies across the UK and Ireland. It says its role is to get the money “back into the public purse” and it has been responsible for returning in excess of £85 million to government coffers.
Semi-retired Thomas Bevan is another regular at auctions, but this is his first government auction.
Unlike many of the potential bidders, Thomas has got his eyes set on some of the several luxury watches that would fetch tens of thousands of pounds if bought new.
Thomas, 69, said: “I always go for the watches, I’m a bit of a collector. I’m pretty good with auctions, I’ve been coming for years and if there’s something I’m interested in and I think this is going to be a nice deal then I go for it.
“It’s definitely a bigger crowd than some of the auctions here, and it’s a more varied crowd. I did have my eyes on a watch for my wife but the price wasn’t right for me.”
Among all the regular auctiongoers and collectors are novices out for a bargain.
Ruhel Ali has come out to the humid warehouse in the hope of picking up just one item – a Quadzilla quad bike.
The train inspector, 27, said: “The quad bike looks quite interesting and I’ve been looking at getting one for a few months so I hoped to pick up a bargain.
“Everyone here works hard for their money and then they sell drugs and steal for it [the items] so I think it’s good. It’s like a comeback on them. It’s definitely been an eyeopener to see all the different types of people who come here.”
In total the auction raised more than £50,000.