Four men that were convicted in an elaborate conspiracy conducted across England’s motorway network to steal cash from gaming machines have had confiscation orders made against them at Oxford Crown Court today earlier this month.

The confiscation order was brought to court by Thames Valley Police’s Economic Crime Unit (ECU) against Thomas Wheatcroft, James Sharpe, and Charlie Shaw. In October 2010 they were convicted along with three other men of the conspiracy and received sentences totalling more than 10 years in prison.

In 2009 members of the criminal group from Portsmouth stole tens of thousands of pounds from gaming machines at motorway service stations. The offences were committed using sophisticated electronic methods to add false credits to the machines, which were then paid out at amounts of up to £500 a time. It was reported the criminals were hitting several sites each day.

After they were convicted of the offences the details were passed to the Economic Crime Unit who carried out investigations into the criminals assets and made and instigated proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

The following orders totalling £172,084.89 have been made

• Thomas Wheatcroft, aged 30, from Merrivale Road, Portsmouth was ordered to pay £6,665.34

• James Sharpe, aged 26, from Milford Road, Portsmouth was ordered to pay £507.27

• Charlie Shaw, aged 22, of Gladys Avenue, Portsmouth the sum of £172.90.

• Ian Jarvis, aged 35, from Sea Road, Skegness, was ordered to pay £3,345

• Paul Hircombe, aged 46, from St Stephens Road, Portsmouth was ordered to pay £1,692.90

• Adam Barnard, aged 22, from Merrivale Road, Portsmouth was ordered to pay a nominal order of £10.

• Darren Carrick, aged 39, also from Portsmouth, whose bank accounts were used to move tens of thousands of pounds, usually in £1 coins was convicted under Money Laundering legislation and sentenced to 18 months imprisonment and ordered to pay £159,691.47. It was established that Carrick had a criminal lifestyle and that he had benefited by £700,685.51 from his criminal conduct. If he fails to pay the amount within 6 months he will serve a further two years and still have to repay the money.

Accredited Financial Investigator from the ECU, Nicola Roberts, added: “The gaming industry suffered heavy financial losses as a result of the activities of this gang, and I am pleased that they are now going to have to forfeit their ill-gotten gains, as well as having served their sentences in prison.

“The ECU is committed to recovering money obtained through illegal means and will continue to pursue criminals through the courts and seize assets under the Proceeds of Crime Act legislation.”

It has been quite common over the years for criminals to target bingo clubs and arcades, however they are much more likely to be caught as such gaming establishments are manned continously. Gaming areas at service stations on the motorway tend not to be supervised and as the criminals were moving from one site to another they surely felt they would avoid detection.