Inner London Crown Court Sentencing Results

Daoyan Shang was involved in deploying SMS blasters on the London Underground, providing technical support, and accompanied the devices. Part of a gang using fake texts to steal personal details from commuters for bank fraud. Arrested at Baker Street station on 25 March 2025.

Gatis Lauks used stolen bank details from the SMS blaster scam on London Underground passengers to purchase 10,832 gift cards loaded with more than £80,000 in profits.

Wan Mohd Hafiz was caught with an SMS blaster in a suitcase at Baker Street Underground station on 25 March 2025. Part of gang using devices on London Underground to send fraudulent texts impersonating delivery companies to steal personal and bank details.

Zhijia Fan organised a criminal network using SMS blasters concealed in suitcases on the London Underground to impersonate mobile phone masts and send fake parcel delivery texts to commuters, tricking them into providing personal and financial details which were used to access bank accounts and purchase over £80,000 in gift cards. Arrested in Acton on 25 March 2025.

On 28 May 2025, plain clothes officers from British Transport Police’s County Lines Taskforce noticed Teon Francis, 46, of Glenloch Road, Enfield, inside Stratford station as he attempted to avoid uniformed officers and find an alternative way out. His behaviour prompted officers to stop and question him. When told he would be detained and searched, he denied having drugs and resisted, forcing officers to restrain him. During the struggle, packages of cocaine fell from his clothing onto the station floor. He was arrested for possession with intent to supply Class A drugs. Packages confirmed to contain cocaine. Search found two mobile phones, including a burner phone, breaching his Criminal Behaviour Order. Home search discovered cannabis, two additional burner-style phones and small wraps of white crystal and powder.

Emmanuel John, a 43-year-old finance manager, stole £700,000 from Greenwich University, a charity-run institution, by fleecing his cash-strapped bosses. He used the funds to purchase a house, buy household appliances, and take his family on a luxury trip to New York, while draining the university of vast amounts of cash over time.

Klaudiusz Majewski, 49, of Wolsey Avenue, East Ham, was part of an organised crime gang that defrauded a retired nuclear scientist of £74,000. The gang provided fraudulently opened bank accounts to accomplices in London, used for cashing out from call centre scams originating in India. They cold-called elderly victims, falsely claiming to be from the National Crime Agency, and convinced them their devices were involved in crimes, prompting them to transfer funds. One victim, a 74-year-old man with tongue cancer, believed he was assisting in money laundering and carried out several transactions before detectives seized around £120,000 and returned most of the stolen money.

Samy Daim, a 28-year-old former estate agent and French national, posed as a landlord and advertised luxury properties he did not own on Rightmove and Zoopla between 2023 and 2024. He targeted 11 prospective tenants, including young people as young as 18 and an international student, collecting £213,180 in upfront rent and 25% deposits. He used booked Airbnbs for viewings arranged by a woman, then disappeared with the money to fund luxury holidays boasted on social media. He also used his own flat in Elephant and Castle, London, despite facing eviction for unpaid rent. His scheme was flagged on 99home.co.uk. He was arrested at Heathrow Airport attempting to board a flight to Thailand. Some victims reclaimed money via banks, but one did not.

Mourad Aid, 41, of Greatorex Street in Tower Hamlets, targeted the victim and his wife as they returned from a romantic getaway to Paris outside St Pancras station. While the victim was helping a chauffeur load luggage into a car, Aid snatched the wife's suitcase containing £250,000 worth of jewellery and designer bags, including two Kelly bags totalling around £70,000 and sentimental and antique jewellery. He was caught on camera before disappearing into the crowd. This occurred on an unspecified date in early 2025, prior to his arrest on 17 February 2025 in Hatton Gardens. Aid also committed a second similar bag snatch on another victim on November 24, 2024.

Hermon Solomon, 25, from Hulme, Manchester, was part of a criminal gang involved in phone snatch robberies in London areas including Borough high street, Soho, and Stockwell. The gang stole hundreds of thousands of pounds from victims over a year by accessing stolen phones to drain bank accounts and make luxury purchases. Solomon was caught using a stolen phone to shop at Harvey Nichols shortly after a theft.

Spencer Duarte, while riding an e-bike, grabbed a phone from an unsuspecting victim on Ludgate Hill on 7 August 2024. He was tackled by members of the public and fled, losing a trainer shoe in the process. The incident was captured on CCTV, and DNA from the shoe identified him, leading to his arrest on 9 September 2024.

Joel March, 36, a G4S driver, stole £1 million from the armoured van he was driving on Larkhall Rise, Clapham on 23 April. Police were called at around 7pm about stolen cash deposit boxes. There were no signs of forced entry. He was arrested the next day in a flat on Keats Street, SE5, where £28,600 was recovered. He later pleaded guilty to theft and concealing criminal property.

Dexter Sharpe was stopped by British Transport Police officers and detained for a search after he was caught smoking cannabis on July 26, 2022, outside Clapham Junction station. Police found he was carrying a mobile phone, more than £2,000 in cash, and 25 wraps of heroin worth more than £500 in his backpack. While in custody, an amount of cannabis was found among his belongings. In a police interview, Sharpe claimed the phone, cash, and heroin did not belong to him but refused to explain how he came to be carrying them.

Michael Cross, 38, alongside co-defendant Fatima Ali, 40, used the identities of genuine customers to make fake online applications to banks and a pension company to obtain loans, banking, and pension facilities, totalling around £178,000 in potential losses. They used genuine passports with customer personal information, replacing the photographs with their own, and uploaded ‘selfie’ pictures and videos to bypass online verification processes. Cross submitted applications on 90 occasions. The actual loss was around £59,000 with potential loss of £119,000.