Greedy pair spent cash on lavish lifestyle and prostitutes (From The Northern Echo)

Greedy pair spent cash on lavish lifestyle and prostitutes

8:19pm Friday 20th November 2009 in

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A former policeman and an insurance company manager who funded a lavish lifestyle of hotels and prostitutes with money obtained in a £1.43 million fraud were jailed today.

Stephen Spellacy, 36, and John Taylor, 35, were described as greedy and arrogant after their sentencing at Leeds Crown Court.

Taylor, an operations manager at Norwich Union in York, was jailed for five years after earlier pleading guilty to conspiring to defraud the insurance company and conspiracy to launder the proceeds.

Spellacy, who worked for Humberside Police for 13 years, was sent to prison for eight and a half years after admitting two counts of conspiracy to launder money and possession of a gun and ammunition.

''Both turned their backs on their families for the aggrandisement of already comfortable lives, motivated by greed and the arrogant belief that they would get away with it."

Inspector Adam Harland

Police described the former officer as an ''utter disgrace'' following the sentencing and said he and Taylor had ''turned their backs on their families for the aggrandisement of already comfortable lives''.

Five other men were also jailed today for their parts in the conspiracy to launder the money.

The court heard Taylor, from York, abused his position to redirect a sum of £1.1 million from the company and to obtain money from dormant accounts over a number of years using his own password and those of colleagues.

Spellacy, from Pocklington, East Yorkshire, created a businessman alter-ego to use the money from these ''gone away accounts'' to buy high-value watches from jewellers in York, which were then converted into cash.

Prosecutor Andrew Robertson QC said the pair spent the proceeds on foreign holidays, expensive London hotels and prostitutes.

Mr Robertson said Spellacy also developed a cocaine habit and paid £50,000 in cash for a car and kitchen improvements.

Taylor, who had worked at Norwich Union for 12 years but claimed to feel under-valued, involved other men to launder the £1.1 million, which he siphoned off in November 2007 from money transferred by the insurance company to fund managers to cover investments.

Speaking after the sentencing, Detective Chief Inspector Adam Harland, of North Yorkshire Police, said: ''The nature and extent of the offending by John Taylor and Stephen Spellacy was particularly shocking. They abused trust placed in them by their families, their employers and society in general.

''Both turned their backs on their families for the aggrandisement of already comfortable lives, motivated by greed and the arrogant belief that they would get away with it. They thought only of themselves.''

Mr Harland said Taylor had abused his trust as a manager for the company and said Spellacy had ''breached the trust society placed in him as a police officer''.

''In 25 years of policing, I have had many opportunities to see excellent work by police officers and staff,'' he said.

''Sadly, throughout that time, there has also been a small number of individuals whose actions have been an utter disgrace and have undermined the good works of their colleagues. Stephen Spellacy is one such individual.''

The court heard the pair would be in debt for the rest of their lives as a result of the crime.

Sentencing Taylor, the Recorder of Leeds Peter Collier QC told him: ''You plundered the coffers of Norwich Union by complex and clever fraud. You spirited away nearly £350,000, you dissipated the proceeds on yourself. It involved living life at a high level, both for yourself and Spellacy, who you involved to assist in the laundering.

''You spent money on expensive London hotels and, I am told, on prostitutes.''

The judge continued: ''You then came up with a scheme to lift over £1 million from the company in one fell swoop and needed the involvement of others to launder the money, converting it into cash. By taking advantage of the greed or weakness of others, you brought them into the dock with you.''

Judge Collier added: ''There was no justification, apart from simply your greed and your sense of not being valued by your employers, so wanting to put a value upon your work yourself, which caused you to commit these offences.''

Judge Collier sentenced Spellacy to three-and-a-half-years in prison for the conspiracy to launder money, with a consecutive five-year sentence for the possession of the gun and ammunition.

He said: ''You received benefit yourself and you spent the money on your personal lifestyle, leading a lifestyle which, on your part, involved an addiction, at that time, on the drug cocaine.''

Peter Harrington, 38, from Normanton, West Yorkshire, Michael Geary, 45, from Stanley, Wakefield, West Yorkshire, and a 47-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, all pleaded guilty to counts of conspiracy to launder money at earlier hearings.

Harrington was today jailed for four-and-a-half years, Geary received a 22-month prison sentence and the 47-year-old man was sentenced to six years in prison.

Sajid Kotia, 34, from Leeds, and Trevor Morris, 65, from Goole, East Yorkshire, were found guilty of conspiracy to launder money after a trial.

Kotia was today jailed for 18 months and Morris was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in jail.

Three men were jailed earlier this year for related money laundering offences and two further people will be sentenced next month.