Couple who washed and sold used stamps guilty of £225k fraud – The Union Journal

A married couple whose lavish lifestyle was financed by washing 700,00 used stamps and selling them as new to eBay and Amazon were convicted of fraud. )

Paul Harrison, 52, defrauded Royal Mail from over 400,000 by simply taking away the stamps’ frank marks in order that they may be passed off as fresh to people on line. 

He and his wife Samantha, 44, utilized the profits of the complex fraud to cover luxury vacations and a BMW with personalised number plates.   

Mr Harrison was included in the selling of approximately 700,000 stamps which led in Royal Mail shedding #421,000, Birmingham Crown Court heard. 

Only over #215,000 of this cash went to the Harrisons’ joint accounts, although his accomplice Graham Rought pocketed #43,000, the court has been advised. 

Mr Harrison was now jailed for four years at Birmingham Crown Court after being convicted of adapting, possessing and supplying articles for fraud. He had previously confessed money laundering and the other cost of providing posts for fraud.

After recruitment his spouse to share in the scam, she had been convicted of money laundering and awarded a yearlong suspended prison sentence with 150 hours outstanding work.  

They had been captured when envelopes, largely addressed to colleges in Scotland, were rejected in a sorting office in Glasgow.

Tests demonstrated the stamps had no indicators of phosphor, which shows up under ultraviolet lighting to allow machine-sorting of email.

The stamps have been tracked back into Harrison’s house in Barnsley, South Yorkshire. When authorities raided the 200,000 land they discovered signs of postage washing’throughout the speech’, such as towels used to wash them. 

Police armed with Tasers also raided former dental tech Graham Rought’s garden drop because he had been washing stamps.  

Ben Close, prosecuting, said:’This offence involves the getting and selling of large amounts of stamps that had been through the stamp system.

‘They purchased secondhand stamps, eliminated from envelopes, and marketed them so that they can be reused.

‘Paul Harrison accepts he place them on greaseproof paper to make them look like brand new. 

‘Rought was included in washing the franking marks’ He included Harrison had worked an internet account known as Cheap Stamps since June 2007 while Rought was engaged in the fraud for both 2 and half decades.

Mr Close said Harrison had contacted Rought onto a range of occasions asking him about how he used to scrub the stamps.

‘There have been several flirtatious exchanges involving them because Rought believed he had been talking to Samantha Harrison,’ he added.

Passing sentence, Recorder Naomi Ellenbogen QC advised Mr Harrison:’It’s clear that this was a calculated business action, the profits of which were the prime earnings. The fraud took place over a period just short of nine decades. You made significant gain from these types of offences.’

Katie Rafter, for Mrs Harrison, stated she had’turned a blind eye to her husband’s actions’ but have to have had suspicions regarding them.

James Bruce, for Rought, stated he had been detained in August 2016 and the thing was hanging over his head since that time. He added it wasn’t a complicated feat. ‘This is a one-piece group. He didn’t use anybody else,’ he explained.

After he pleaded guilty in March, Rought informed of the second eight police officers withdrew the backyard shed where he smashed the stamps.

‘Anyone would have thought I had stolen the Crown Jewels,”’ he explained.

Until there, the dad of 2 claimed he originally didn’t realise that the scheme was prohibited.

Rought said the lengthy wait to be sentenced had taken a significant toll. ‘It was a Small crazy time in my entire life,’ he added’ I lost my mom and my father and walked from my occupation as a dental technician.

‘It has been dreadful and it made me an alcoholic, but I am all right now. I am bracing myself for fiscal ruin’

Rought, 57, from Birmingham, has been granted an 18-month suspended prison sentence, and arranged to perform 85 hours of unpaid work. He had previously confessed adapting, possessing and supplying articles for fraud and money laundering.