Fraud is the most commonly experienced crime in the UK costing the country many billions of pounds every year. Recent Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures suggest that fraud has risen by 25% in the past two years, with 4.5 million offences in England and Wales. In response to this worrying rise, Fraud Protect Practitioners…
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A man who attempted to import a kilo of cocaine from Brazil concealed inside car parts has been sentenced to four years and three months in prison. Gabriel Coelho, 19, from Courtney View, Kingswood, South Gloucestershire, appeared at Bristol Crown Court yesterday (16 August) after pleading guilty to importing a Class A Drug, namely cocaine.…
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The second phase of a regional crackdown on drugs has resulted in more than 230 vulnerable adults and children being safeguarded. Operation Scorpion is a collaboration between the five police forces in the South West region (Avon and Somerset, Dorset, Devon and Cornwall, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire), alongside their respective offices of Police and Crime Commissioners,…
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A man from Glastonbury has been sentenced to three years in prison for attempting to meet a young girl he intended to sexually abuse. Paul Hatton, 55, of Benedict Street, Glastonbury pleaded guilty to attempting to arrange or facilitate commission of a child sex offence, and attempting to cause a child under 13 to watch…
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A third person has been jailed for conspiring to smuggle eight Albanian migrants into the UK in a small boat which got stranded near Teignmouth, South Devon, in December 2020. Indrit Barhani, 33, of no fixed address, was sentenced to four years and two months at Exeter Crown Court yesterday (9 June) after pleading guilty…
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People using the internet to abuse children have been warned that they will be caught, with police revealing that the work of covert online officers has led to more than 1,300 arrests in England and Wales over the past year. Between April 2021 and March 2022, police officers working to catch those who commit sexual…
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More than 300 extra police officers have joined regional organised crime units in the past year, with a further 425 set to help tackle issues such as county drugs lines, economic crime and modern slavery by 2023. As part of the Government police uplift programme, which aims to recruit 20,000 new officers by March 2023,…
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Three people from Lancashire have been charged with drugs offences after the vehicle they were travelling in was stopped on the M5 near Exeter as part of a South West regional drugs operation. John Holland, 44, from Field Street, Skelmersdale and Luke Shinner, 18, of Inskip, Skelmersdale, were both arrested on 8 March and have…
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In a significant new approach, police across the South West have combined their operational powers to tackle cross border drugs supply activities. Operation Scorpion took place from 7 March 2022 and across the South West led to: 194 arrests in connection with drugs related offences 55 warrants carried out 400 drug line disruptions £404K (at…
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A man has been jailed after making plans to travel to Wiltshire to sexually abuse a young girl. David Nye, 56, of Stoney Stile Way, Wells, Somerset, pleaded guilty to attempting to arrange the commission of a child sex offence at a hearing in November 2021 following a joint investigation by the South West Regional…
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