2025.1.10 Two jailed over charitable fund fraud
A Birmingham brother and sister were sentenced yesterday (9 Jan) for fraud relating to donated charitable funds.
Rajbinder Kaur, 55, was convicted last September for money laundering and six counts of theft amounting to £50,000 and one count under Section 60 of the Charities Act 2011 – knowingly or recklessly provide false or misleading information to the Charity Commission.
Her brother Kaldip Singh Lehal, 43, was also convicted for knowingly or recklessly providing false or misleading information to the Charity Commission.
Yesterday, Kaur was sentenced to two years and eight months imprisonment and Lehal was given a four months sentence suspended for 18 months and 80 hours of community service.
The pair, both formally of Hamstead Road, were initially arrested in July 2019 and subsequently charged in September 2019.
The trial at Birmingham Crown Court last year heard how Kaur and Lehal ran an organisation called Sikh Youth UK (SYUK) which was formed in 2016. An application was made in 2016 to the Charity Commission for SYUK to become a registered charity but when the commission asked for further information about SYUK, the information was not given so the charity application was closed.
SYUK received countless donations during fundraising events including a sponsored winter sleep out and a football tournament both in 2018.
Kaur – a former bank worker – would transfer funds from the SYUK bank to her own account and then pay off her personal debts and loans as well as sending money to others including family members.
Kaur had over 50 personal bank accounts in an attempt to make it as complicated as possible to follow the flow of stolen money.
Superintendent Annie Miller, from West Midlands Police, said: “Kaur tried to portray herself as someone naïve about financial matters despite having worked in a bank.
“SYUK was clearly a means to fund her lifestyle and pay her debts off, but in the simplest of terms Kaur was stealing large amounts of money that had been donated by local people for good causes.”
Supt Miller continued: “This has been a very long and complex investigation into fraud, and we have worked closely with the Charity Commission to bring this pair to justice.”
2025.1.10 Woman sentenced following hundreds of hoax and abusive calls to police
A woman has been sentenced following an extensive series of abusive, persistent and hoax calls to Sussex Police and other emergency services.
Suzanne Forster has been ordered to undertake 18 rehabilitation activities, pay a fine of £239, undertake an Alcohol Abstinence and Monitoring Requirement (AAMR), and been given a 10-week prison sentence, suspended for two years.
Forster, 51, of Warrior Close, Portslade, made 303 calls to police between December 2023 and May 2024, with all calls either abusing staff or reporting hoax crimes.
Forster wasted numerous hours of call handers time over a six month period, and had also previously been given Criminal Behaviour Orders for offences of the same nature.
The 51-year-old was interviewed under caution on May 22, 2024 where she denied any knowledge of the calls. Forster was then released under investigation while further necessary enquiries were undertaken.
Charges for sending public communications of an offensive/ obscene/ menacing matter were authorised on November 11, and Forster appeared at Brighton Magistrates’ Court on November 21.
She was bailed with strict conditions, ahead of her next court appearance.
Forster pleaded guilty to the offence at Brighton Magistrates’ Court on Friday, January 3 and was sentenced the same day.
A 57 year-old man has been jailed for a year and eight months after he admitted two separate offences including possessing a knife in a public place and using a knife during a fight in Portsmouth.
In the early hours of Sunday 16 June 2024 we received a report of people fighting and that there was a knife involved on Victoria Street. Officers attended, but the group had left. Further enquiries showed that no-one was hurt. After CCTV of the area was viewed Neil Gary Braithwaite of no fixed address was identified as the man carrying a knife. On Friday 19 July officers from Portsmouth’s Priority Crime Team who had been trying to locate Braithwaite spotted him on Fratton Road. As they went to arrest him he dropped an object over a wall, that was later identified to be a kitchen knife.
Braithwaite was later charged and admitted two offences of possession of a knife in a public place at Portsmouth Crown Court today (Tuesday 7 January), where he was immediately sentenced to a total of 20 months in prison.
Officer in the case, PC Tony Percival said: “This sentence sends a clear message that we will not tolerate knife-related or violent crime in Portsmouth. We work tirelessly to keep our communities safe and will relentlessly pursue those people that we believe to be carrying knives as weapons in the city.
2025.1.7 Man in high-vis jacket hunted after Birmingham break-in attempt
A CCTV appeal has been launched after an attempted break-in in a Birmingham street. It happened in Stockland Road in the Stockland Green area of Erdington, off Slade Road, on Sunday, November 17.
A raider was said to have tried to get into a property at around 7pm. Now West Midlands Police has issued an image of a man officers would like to speak to in connection with the incident.
The man was pictured wearing a high-vis jacket with reflective strips that light up when caught on camera. He appeared to be white, bald on top, with a beard.
A spokesperson for West Midlands Police said: “Can you tell us who this is? We’re investigating an attempted burglary in Stockland Road, Birmingham, at around 7pm on Sunday, 17 November, and want to speak with him.
OFFICERS on the Warrington Town Centre Beat Team would like to speak to the two women pictured following an alleged theft from a 95-year-old man in Heron Foods on Buttermarket Street.
The alleged theft took place on Friday 27th December 2024.
It is alleged that they have cruelly targeted a 95-year-old man in the Heron Foods store, stealing £400 from him that he had just withdrawn to pay for his shopping and bills.
A staggering number of car thefts go unsolved by police in the West Midlands, new data has shown. Around 75 per cent of incidents in the region do not lead to a person being prosecuted with those at fault walking free.
Research by the Liberal Democrats found that 24,837 car thefts went unsolved in just a three-month period last year in the UK. This means that 78.5 per cent – or nearly four in five – of the 31,654 total thefts that took place were unsolved.
And just 2.8 per cent of cases resulted in someone being charged or summonsed. London ranked the worst with the Metropolitan Police force failing to solve 90 per cent of all reported car thefts.
Next was South Yorkshire with 85 per cent of theft going unsolved followed by Essex, Wiltshire, Sussex and Hertfordshire where at least 80 per cent of car thefts were unsolved in the quarter ending June 2024.
West Midlands comes in with just over 75 per cent going unsolved. The Liberal Democrats have blamed the former Tory government for the findings after they slashed local police numbers. They have called on Labour to restore community policing, The Mirror reports.
2025.1.3 FOUR INFAMOUS CASES NEEDING CRACKED
Alistair Wilson – 2004 : HE doorstep shooting of the banker, 30, in Nairn is likely the most high-profile unsolved slaying. After botched probes, a fresh one, Operation Sabine, has begun.
Alexander Blue – 2002 : THE taxi boss, 41, was found in a pool of blood with horror head wounds in Dowanhill, Glasgow. Brother Billy said in 2022 cops had partial DNA. The Crown said the evidence was “insufficient”.
Tony McGovern – 2000 : THE hood, 35, was an ex-best pal of crimelord Jamie ‘Iceman’ Stevenson, 59. He was once wanted for McGovern’s shooting in Bolornock, Glasgow, but charges were dropped through lack of evidence.
Billy Weatherall – 1995 : BILLY was shot repeatedly and his body found beside the M8 near Bishopton, Renfrewshire. It was rumoured he agreed to testify at a prison riot trial, which collapsed after his execution.
The cases include sex offenders, a cannabis farmer, and violent men from across the region who have been locked up.
2024.12.20 Police seek to identify suspects in theft investigation
London police are investigating a theft and are seeking assistance in locating the suspects.
Just after 10 a.m. Dec. 8, an employee of a business in the 400-block of Pond Mills Road reported property damage and theft of property to police.
According to police, two men damaged and stole property from the business shortly after 4 a.m. that day.
The suspects have not yet been identified, but their images have been released.
Police are asking anyone who may have been in the area between 3:30 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. with dashcam footage, residential or business video surveillance that may assist with the investigation to contact the London Police Service.
2024.12.16 Northamptonshire Police
Burglary in Blackberry Lane, Northampton
Police officers are appealing for witnesses after a burglary in Blackberry Lane, Northampton.
The incident happened on Monday, December 9, between 5.30pm and 7pm, when the unknown offender/s smashed a key safe to gain entry to an address and once inside, stole a number of items including cash, a 21st birthday gold bracelet present, a gold wedding ring, five military medals on a bar, a veteran’s badge, two gold chains, a HP laptop, a string of pearls and five pairs of gold earrings.
Witnesses or anyone with information should call Northamptonshire Police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.
Please quote incident number 24000731355 when passing on any information to make sure it gets to the right person as quickly as possible.
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