Fraudster Gary Taylor had the unusual experience of being jailed twice – in successive months – for unrelated fraud cases. In November Taylor, 58, of Manor Road, Croydon, was jailed for 20 months at Portsmouth Crown Court for his involvement in a complex fraud and money laundering investigation.
That investigation, led by Hampshire and the Isle of Wight police force economic crime unit, ended with him being jailed for 20 months for money laundering. The amount involved was £100,000 and dated backed to 2017.
At Peterborough Crown Court on Friday, he was jailed for a further three years and four months after being found guilty of blackmail.
He had tried to blackmail a Peterborough couple out of more than £400,000.
After being sentenced, Detective Constable Lauren Clark, who investigated, said: “Taylor is a malicious man who has now not only been convicted of blackmail, but is also serving time in prison for high-value fraud offences in different parts of the country.
“It is clear he will go to extreme lengths for his own financial gain, however, thankfully in this case he was stopped before anyone was hurt, or money exchanged hands.”
His blackmail attempt came on the morning of 26 September last year, when he and two other men dressed all in black walked up to the front door of a house in Walton, Peterborough.
Taylor rang the doorbell and used his hand to partially cover the video doorbell camera.
Punched video doorbell before leaving
Getting no response, he posted a letter through the letterbox before punching the video doorbell and leaving.
The letter, which was addressed to the previous resident, said: “Your partner **** stole £434,000 from someone affiliated with us to complete the house in ***** for you.
“This was a very big mistake, and we will stop at absolutely nothing until this is paid back in full. We have now decided to authorise a contract which will be placed on the dark web with your present full address above.”
It went on to make threats of extreme violence and was signed off “Taylor Made Logistics” and included an account number and sort code.
Police were notified and financial checks led to identifying Taylor as the account holder who was arrested at his home in Croydon on 29 September 2022.
In interview, he told detectives how he had delivered what he thought was an apology letter that someone had handed him and knew nothing about it being a threat.
On being questioned about punching the camera, he claimed he did it as he was annoyed at having travelled from London just for that reason. He was later charged with blackmail and criminal damage.
A second man, Francis Alexander, 60, was arrested on 11 October at Stansted Airport in Essex as part of the investigation, and later charged with blackmail.
Following a five-day trial at Peterborough Crown Court earlier this year, a jury returned unanimous guilty verdicts for Taylor, while Alexander, of Church Field, Snodland, Kent, was cleared of the offence.
Taylor used an alias
Taylor, (who at his Portsmouth hearing was said to have also used the name Gareth Amaru Williams) appeared at Peterborough court last Friday where he was sentenced to three years and four months in prison.
At his Portsmouth trial, police revealed that the money laundering offences were born out of cyber-enabled payment diversion fraud activity that occurred between February and April 2017.
During this period, victims were defrauded cumulatively to the tune of more than £200,000.
The fraud involved email accounts of victims in North Yorkshire and in London being compromised, and money transfers – including funds from the sale of a house on one particular occasion – being intercepted and diverted to fraudulent bank accounts.
At Portsmouth Crown Court Taylor was described by the judge as having a ‘significant’ role also, but not to the extent of two others, also found guilty.
