Cllr Judith Guthrie
FIVE members of a car clocking gang who wiped more than seven million miles from more than 100 vehicles have been convicted following a joint prosecution by Warrington and Halton councils.
The five were all found guilty of conspiracy to commit fraud after a trial lasting six weeks at Chester Crown Court.
They were John Murphy, 67, from Conwy; Paul Arslanian, 38, from Conwy; Christopher Graham Lunt, 39, from Chester; Trevor Gareth Jones, 58, from Colwyn Bay, and Simon Richard Williams, 49, Fluin Lane, in Frodsham.
All denied the offences, although Lunt changed his plea to one of guilty during the trial.
Two other defendants, Laura Jayne Murphy of Chester and Kevin Paul Batty of Sutton in Craven, North Yorkshire, were acquitted of the charges.
Sentencing will take place at Liverpool Crown Court next month.
The hearing followed a three-year trading standards investigation by Warrington Borough Council and Halton Borough Council – the biggest probe of its kind carried out by them.
The defendants worked for PCS Events Ltd a Runcorn-based chauffeur services company.
The court heard they had operated a widespread system of clocking the cars in their possession.
Warrington and Halton trading standards began investigating in 2013 after receiving information of alleged fraud and consumer protection offences, relating to the turning back of mileages on vehicles obtained by the company.
The defendants sought to profit from the offence as vehicles which were subsequently sold had their sale prices inflated based upon the incorrect mileage reading.
A huge amount of evidence was gathered – including the cross referencing of fuel records for vehicles, examining finance and warranty work records and recording the accounts of people who had bought “clocked” vehicles.
It was found that more than 100 vehicles had been clocked, with evidence of clocked vehicles dating from 2008 to 2014. The minimum amount of clocking which is believed to have taken
place is 7.5 million miles.
As well as gathering evidence against Murphy, Arslanian, Lunt, and Jones for altering the mileage of cars in the possession of PCS Events Ltd, the investigation by trading standards officers also revealed links to Williams, who carried out MOT testing of clocked vehicles, producing documents which showed incorrect mileage.
Cllr Judith Guthrie, Warrington Borough Council’s lead member for public
protection, said: “The successful prosecution of fraud on this scale is a huge success story for our trading standards team. Building this case and bringing it to trial has taken three years of meticulous, painstaking work and dedication. It sends out a clear message, once again, that if you carry out fraudulent activity, we will take action against you.”
