The assets recovered included a villa in Tenerife and 16 commercial and residential properties in Somerset. Also recovered was an 18th Century Georgian townhouse in Bath, which was operated as the Roman City Guest House, and the former Midford telephone repeater station.
The huge property portfolio was acquired between 1998 and 2007. Investigations revealed that between 2004 and 2009 alone, it generated rental and commercial income of more than £2 million. The Davies family’s assets were frozen earlier in the year by a court, but this was thought to be linked to the collapse of the family business, which rented and sold holiday homes in Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridge.
The family had claimed that the funds used to purchase the properties were the result of gifts. This could not be substantiated, and the family agreed to surrender the assets after conceding that they derived from the proceeds of unlawful conduct.
This investigation has identified unlawfully-held assets worth millions of pounds.
The Canary Islands holiday home and prestige vehicle represent the obvious trappings of wealth, but equally important is the recovery of numerous commercial and residential properties, which will otherwise have continued to generate substantial revenue that the defendants were not entitled to.”
It is vital to the UK’s economic wellbeing that assets are held legitimately, and the NCA is determined to recover property acquired through the proceeds of serious and organised crime.
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