Fraud Victims to Receive £75,000 in Compensation After Successful Confiscation Revisit

A significant breakthrough has been achieved in a long‑running North Wales Police fraud case, with 33 victims now set to receive long‑awaited compensation thanks to the work of the NWROCU’s Economic Crime Unit.

Gwyn Roberts, 57, from Caernarfon operated a fraudulent vehicle‑sourcing business across North Wales in 2014 to 2015. He targeted local residents, including elderly victims, by offering to sell their vehicles or source replacements. Many handed over cars and substantial sums of money, only to receive nothing in return. Some victims lost both their vehicles and thousands of pounds in cash.

Following an investigation by North Wales Police, Roberts was charged in 2017 with 25 fraud‑related offences. He was convicted after trial on 5 March 2019 and sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment. A subsequent Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) hearing found that he had benefited from his offending by £769,210.91, but with no assets available at the time, the court imposed a nominal £1 confiscation order.

North Wales Police had identified that Roberts would eventually receive a private pension, and once he reached the eligible age, the case was referred for reconsideration. Using POCA Variation and Reconsideration powers, the NWROCU’s Economic Crime Unit successfully secured just under £100,000 from the offender’s pension fund.

This recovered money is now being used to compensate the 33 victims - and, where victims have passed away, their next of kin.

Senior Financial Investigator William Furnivall who heads up the NWROCU’s Asset Confiscation Enforcement Department said:

“This outcome demonstrates the NWROCU’s continued commitment to ensuring that criminals do not retain the proceeds of their offending. Even years after conviction, we will pursue every lawful avenue to recover funds and return them to the people who were harmed.

“Many of Roberts’ victims had resigned themselves to never seeing a penny back, so being able to return some of their money, especially at Christmas, is a really positive outcome.”