Hefty Porridge, Not
If they behave themselves, they will only spend between one third to half that time in prison. Wheres the deterrent in that.
Five members of a missing trader fraud gang have received sentences of up to four and a half years for a £17m scam based around mobile phones, HMRC revealed yesterday. The gang nobbled the revenue in a "complicated" fraud centred on mobile phones, SIM cards, memory and other mobile phone accessories. HMRC said paperwork …
A friend of mine wound up doing 18 months some years ago because he'd failed to notice that the Chemists Shop had a silent alarm ... but ittaught him not to break into Chemists shops.
Instead he came out and set up a flourishing importation business with all the useful contacts and training that he'd received. I don't think that two years in jail and not being allowed to be a company director (ROTFLMAO on that one) for a couple of years is such a bad deal considering the contacts and training that they will get.
Split proportionately between the 5 of them, based on the time awarded, these guys still prove crime pays.
Kind of stupid for not registering property in a trusted third party, but there again there's supposed to be no honour amongst thieves so maybe they couldn't trust anyone!