Car dealer who made £750k ordered to repay £1

The victims of a fraudulent car dealer are finally going to receive compensation six years after he was jailed for his crimes. Gwyn Meiron Roberts made more than £750k after defrauding 33 different victims while operating a fraudulent vehicle‐sourcing business.

In 2019, Roberts, owner of Bangor-based Menai Vehicles Solutions, was sentenced to seven years behind bars after a trial at Caernarfon Crown Court. Initially, he was ordered to pay back just £1 because it was found that he had no available assets.

However now, thanks to the work of the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit's Economic Crime Unit, his victims are set to get back thousands of pounds. 

A spokesperson for the unit said Roberts, 57, from Caernarfon, operated the fraudulent business across North Wales from 2014 to 2015, 

The spokesperson said: "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, NWROCU said.

Senior financial investigator William Furnivall, who heads up the NWROCU's Asset Confiscation Enforcement Department, added: "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."