Lauren Bowkett has successfully defended an application by the Prosecution to increase her client’s confiscation order by £150,876.93 to £5,410.74.  Her skilful analysis of the client’s assets against the backdrop of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (“POCA”) demonstrated to the Prosecution that their application was fundamentally “unjust” and that the assets they stated were not available.

The client’s problem: Confiscation Order uplift

Section 22 of POCA is a mechanism for which the prosecution can seek a ‘reconsideration of the available amount’. Consequently, this requires individuals with a disparity between their Confiscation Order and original benefit figure to contribute more money towards their order, even when they had previously paid it in full.

In this instance, the client had been convicted of an offence in 2020 and had received a Confiscation Order. Like in many cases, the client’s ‘Benefit’ amount far exceeded the value of the assets available to him to pay towards his order.  Our client satisfied his Confiscation Order by paying the ‘Available Amount’ – an amount derived from the total value of realisable assets at the time the Order was made.  Following the Confiscation Order being paid in full, our client successfully went on to rebuild his life.

Under POCA the Prosecution were now seeking to recover new assets that our client had acquired since the making of the Confiscation Order. One of the assets was the family home which was held jointly between the client and their spouse. The Prosecution argued that as our client was a legal owner of the family home, he therefore held equity in it which could be paid towards the remaining balance of the Order. They also said that he had a valuable pension which should be surrendered and used to make payment.

How JMW helped

The client instructed JMW and utilising our comprehensive understanding of section 22 POCA, trust and pension knowledge in this area we submitted a detailed response to the Prosecution’s uplift application.  Through a meticulous review of the client’s suggested assets, we produced detailed submissions which stopped the application before it even went to Court.

Outcome: Reduction in the Confiscation Order Uplift

We were delighted that the Prosecution accepted our submissions regarding the family home and conceded that there was no equity to be recovered from it.  Also that they agreed our client’s pension was not available for surrender.  Our client’s’ Confiscation Order was therefore varied to £5,410.74 instead of £150,876.93.

At JMW, we recognise the hardship caused by Section 22 POCA uplifts and are able to use our expertise in this area to ensure clients receive the best outcome and they can continue with their lives.