Used stamp fraudster: ‘Police treated me like I’d stolen Crown Jewels’

A former Birmingham dental technician facing jail for selling used stamps has spoken of the harrowing day eight armed cops stormed the garden shed where he carried out the illegal cottage industy.

Graham Rought, who the Royal Mail say fleeced it out of a potential £100,000, said: “Anyone would’ve thought I’d stolen the Crown Jewels!”

The 56-year-old will be sentenced in December, and is mindful of the punishment doled out to his friends, Wendy Baker and Dean Westwood.

They were both sentenced to two years in prison for the self-same fraud in January.

The couple, from Sheldon, are now free, but ruined. A close associate says they remain on electronic tag and have lost their home, partly to pay back a Proceeds of Crime Act bill of £320,000.

The swindle is far from elaborate. Used first and second class stamps – usually only of interest to collectors – are purchased from organisations such as charities, washed, then sold online sites such as ebay.

Father-of-two Rought, from Birmingham’s Tile Cross district, bitterly regrets his actions. but claims he initially did not realise the scheme was illegal.

He was left in no doubt when officers carrying Tasers, and two Royal Mail officials, stormed his shed back in August 2016.

“I was in my shed, cleaning the stamps. Next thing I know, there are eight police with Tasers and two Royal Mail representatives,” he recalled. “The wife was there and I was saying ‘This is a bit over the top’.

“When the two said they were from the Royal Mail, I pretty much guessed it was about the stamps. I spent a whole day at Perry Barr Police Station – and I’d never been in trouble with the police, ever.”

Rought, a man of previous good character, says the three-year wait for the case to be concluded has taken a heavy toll.

In March, at Birmingham Crown Court, he admitted two charges of making/supplying an article for use in fraud, possessing/in control of an article for use in fraud and conceal/disguise/transfer/remove criminal property.

He says he carried out the clandestine enterprise for 18 months and hatched the scheme, spurred on by the success of Baker and Westwood.

“They were doing it for three years and set up a company,” he said.

“They were employing people. I thought it must be right. At first, I honestly thought it was legit. I actually got a visit from the police before they did.

“It was a bit of a mad time in my life. I lost my mum and my dad and walked out of my job as a dental technician.”

Rought insists that others are still profiting from the illicit trade in used stamps.

“Initially, I was selling them on ebay,” he confessed. “Listen, go and type in ‘first class stamps’. You’d think the Royal Mail would come up. It doesn’t.

“This has been going on for 50 years.”

Living for so long under the shadow of a custodial sentence has taken its toll, he says.

“It has wrecked my life, completely wrecked it,” said Rought. “It’s been terrible and it almost made me an alcoholic, but I’m alright now. My daughter had to take a year off university. It wrecked the family, but we’ve come through.

“My wife’s coping well, but it put a major strain on the relationship and we’ve been married for almost 30 years

“Do I regret doing it? God, yes. I’m not working, I’m not claiming benefits. I’m bracing myself for financial ruin. I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do.

“It is crazy, it’s surreal. It’s like you’ve stolen the Crown Jewels.”

Rought is standing by Baker and Westwood. He claims they were rumbled when the Royal Mail set a trap and purchased a batch of used stamps. Yet it was some years later before the couple were collared.

“All they had to do with Dean and Wendy was ring them up,” he added. “They allowed them to dig a massive hole.”

The unusual nature of Baker and Westwood’s crime earned the pair national headlines. They are now out on licence, living in shared, rented accommodation and penniless.

The pair, in their mid 50s, caused a potential loss to Royal Mail of more than £400,000, Birmingham Crown Court was told back in Janaury.

They began bulk-buying the stamps in July 2013, and the amount they purchased, then sold on ebay “dramatically accelerated” from initially £7,262 to £48,518 worth, the court was told.

The value of the stamps sold was £443,244, while the defendants profited to the tune of £149,344. The vast majority of the sales were to businesses and traders, and there were multiple and repeat purchases.

Baker and Westwood chemically removed cancellation marks and got rid of the glue with white spirit

The stamps were then dried with talcum powder, put on drying racks and their appearance enhanced with hair-spray.

Then the stamps were sold at a significant discount.

Surprisingly, Westwood, aged 56, and 55-year-old Baker set up their own business, Stampbusters, to deal with the illegal trade.

Far from being a hidden, shadowy organisation, the firm was registered on Companies House, with the couple named as directors.

The pair even ran advertisements, which carried disclaimers in a bid to legitimise the operation.

Katie Fox, for Baker, said “This started as a legitimate enterprise. Baker needed a job so that she could work from home that was part-time.”

Andrew Tucker, for Westwood, said he was normally an honest and hard-working man.

Passing sentence, Recorder Rachel Brand QC said the fraud had been “persistent and planned”.

She added: “You placed into circulation a huge number of washed stamps over a number of years, allowing others to use them to cheat the Royal Mail out of revenue they were entitled to.”

The couple may now be free, but the cost of their crime will continue for years.

“They are penniless,” said the close friend.

“Thankfully, they have a good family who are supporting them. They have had to sell their house, they are tagged and have to abide by a curfew that runs from 7.15pm to 7.15am. Getting a job has proved impossible.

“They advertised on ebay and employed people. Would they really have put themselves on such a public platform if they knew what they were doing was illegal?”

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THE rising cost of stamps has been blamed for the growing, black market online on sites like ebay.

An “uncancelled stamp” – one that has been through the postage system but hasn’t been marked as used – are listed on auction sites for as little as 16p.

According to the Daily Telegraph, there are 2,100 listings of fraudulent stamps on one online marketplace alone.

Last year, the Charity Commission warned charities collecting used stamps as a way of fundraising that they could be inadvertently “enabling fraud”.

In a statement, the commission said: “Although we do not believe that charities are knowingly profiting from the collection and sale of used stamps, some are inadvertently enabling this form of fraud by selling packages of used stamps.

“The majority of these stamps are then prepared and fraudulently re-sold as if they were valid postage.

“The money being made by criminal gangs from this type of fraud is significant, and can be used to fund further and wider scale criminal activity.”