Couple washed 700,000 used stamps then sold them on Amazon and eBay in £225,000 fraud

A married couple who bought stamps before washing them and selling them on as new in a £250,000 fraud have today been jailed.  

Paul Harrison and his wife Samantha defrauded Royal Mail out of more than £400,000 as they duped customers into buying stamps on Amazon and eBay. 

The pair used the proceeds from their fraud to pay for luxury holidays and a BMW with personalised number plates.   

Paul Harrison was involved in the sale of around 700,000 stamps which resulted in Royal Mail losing £421,000.

Just over £215,000 had gone into an account held by the Harrisons while their accomplice Graham Rought netted £43,000 and caused a loss to Royal Mail of £113,000.

Paul Harrison and his wife Samantha (pictured outside Birmingham Crown Court) defrauded Royal Mail out of more than £400,000 as they duped customers into buying stamps on Amazon and eBay

Paul Harrison had recruited his wife into the scam, the court heard. 

The 52-year-old, from Barnsley, was jailed for four years at Birmingham Crown Court today.  

Ben Close, prosecuting, told the court the trio bought large quantities of second hand stamps through the postage system, removed from envelopes, and sold them on so they could be reused.

He added: ‘Paul Harrison accepts he put them on grease proof paper to make them appear as if new. 

Graham Rought leaving Birmingham Crown Court

‘Rought was involved in washing off the franking marks.’

He said Paul Harrison had run an account called Affordable Stamps since June 2007.

Stamps were bought by Harrison in kiloware and traded on Amazon and eBay. Rought had been involved in the fraud for two and half years.  

An investigation was launched in 2015 when a large quantity of envelopes were rejected at a sorting office in Glasgow.

Tests showed there were no signs of phosphor on the stamps, which were mainly addressed to schools in Scotland, and they were traced back to the Harrisons.

He said when their home was searched evidence was found of the process.

He added: ‘There were some flirtatious exchanges between them because Rought thought he was speaking to Samantha Harrison.’  

Recorder Naomi Ellenbogen QC told Paul Harrison: ‘It is clear to me this was a calculated business activity, the proceeds of which were your prime income.

‘The fraud took place over a period of just short of nine years. You made considerable gain from these offences.’ 

Katie Rafter, for Samantha Harrison, said she had ‘turned a blind eye to her husband’s activities’ but must have had suspicions about them.

Harrison was previously convicted of adapting, supplying and possessing articles for fraud. He had admitted money laundering and another charge of supplying articles for fraud.

His wife, 44, of the same address, was convicted of money laundering. She was given a two-year suspended sentence and ordered to do 150 hours unpaid work. 

Graham Rought, from Tile Cross in Birmingham, had previously admitted adapting, supplying and possessing articles for fraud and money laundering.

The former dental technician was handed an 18 month sentence, suspended for 18 months, and ordered to do 85 hours unpaid work