Beckhams’ former brother-in-law jailed for role in £800,000 scam

VICTORIA BECKHAM’S exbrother-in-law has been jailed for his role in a near-£1m fraud that saw the famous family’s name used to con vulnerable victims into handing over their savings.

Darren Flood was a director in a firm that cold-called unsuspecting members of the public, mainly the elderly, and persuaded them to invest thousands of pounds in practically worthless materials, falsely promising big returns.

The 40-year-old, who was previously married to the former Spice Girls star’s sister Louise Adams and is the father of her eight-year-old daughter, was handed a 30-month sentence at Kingston Crown Court.

The Beckham name was mentioned to some potential investors to make the scheme seem legitimate, although Flood’s barrister argued he had not personally sought to capitalise on the family link.

The group targeted vulnerable people, including an 83-year-old woman who lost her life savings, phoning them from rented offices in London’s Canary Wharf.

The scammers even wined and dined some of the victims as they ramped up the pressure to invest more money into buying rare earth elements, metals and oxides which are used in mobile phones and computers.

While Surrey Police said the force was aware of 24 victims who invested more than £800,000, the true scale of the crimes is believed to be much larger.

Flood was responsible for marketing The Commodities Link (TCL), police said, as it claimed to be a “truly global brand” made up of commodities brokers with high-value offices. But in reality the firm was run by a gang of what police described as “criminals in suits”.

Flood, of Ware Road, Hertford, who owned almost a quarter of TCL, was part of the business alongside his half-brother Jonathan Docker, 32, of High Road, Chigwell, Essex, and the pair’s cousin Gennaro Fiorentino.

Fiorentino, 38, of Wetherell Road, Hackney, London, played “the leading role” in the company, Judge Carroll said, jailing him for five years.

Four other people have been sentenced following the scam.

There is no suggestion the Beckhams knew anything about the TCL fraud or about any use of the Beckham name.