Crime boss and wife are facing payback hearing
JON MACPHERSON
ACRIME gang leader and his wife who were convicted for their part in a major and ‘sophisticated’ stolen goods operation have had their Proceeds Of Crime Act (POCA) hearing listed for next month.
Tommy ‘Hot Dog’ Smith was jailed for sixand-a-half years after admitting handling stolen goods and money laundering at Preston Crown Court.
The 42-year-old, from Great Harwood, was linked to thefts in Bradford, Leeds, Carlisle and Greater Manchester between 2016 and 2018.
Prosecutors said the case primarily concerned stolen cars and machinery that went through the hands of Tommy Smith and ‘to a lesser degree’ his wife Mary Smith, their associates and employees.
As part of the operation police searched industrial units connected to the defendants in St Lawrence Mill, Mill Street, Great Harwood. A number of items found inside were later linked to other thefts.
Evidence was gathered which showed the gang had orchestrated thefts, sales and attempts to sell the stolen property.
Detectives said the defendants had also taken significant steps in their attempts to frustrate the recovery of these items by the police.
Mary Smith, of Great Harwood, was jailed for 15 months after admitting conspiracy to handle stolen goods and money laundering.
The couple were also given 10-year Directors Disqualification Orders and POCA application was made by the prosecution and was due to be heard on December 12, 2019.
A mention hearing was held on March 11 at Preston Crown Court and the couple were not required to attend.
A three-day POCA hearing will now take place on April 29 and will be presided over by Judge Simon Newell.
At the end of the hearing the couple will be told how much money they need to pay back.
Five other associates received sentences ranging from an 18-month community order to 25 months in prison for similar offences.
We reported in November how a court order was implemented at the Great Harwood scrap yard owned by Tommy and
Mary Smith.
Blackpool Magistrates Court granted an application by Hyndburn Council making it an offence to use the former TH Smith site on Meadow Street for scrap metal dealing.
The order stated that within 28 days, all scrap metal, all signage and all advertising should be removed from the premises.
The buying and selling of scrap metal at the site would also ‘cease immediately’.
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