Louth company director Trevor Frater originally pleaded guilty to supplying unlicensed security staff, while being unlicensed himself, at Grimsby Magistrates' Court in May 2021. Frater was previously convicted for supplying unlicensed security guards in 2018 and as a result had his Security Industry Authority (SIA) licence revoked. The SIA brought both prosecutions.
On 11 November Grimsby Crown Court ordered Frater to pay £33,979.51 under a Proceeds of Crime Act confiscation order. Frater has eight weeks to pay the available amount or face a prison sentence.
The confiscation is in addition to the penalty ordered by the Crown Court at a previous hearing on 11 October. The judge sentenced Trevor Frater to a 12-month community order with an unpaid work requirement of 120 hours.
Between 18 July 2020 and 23 October 2020, Elite Security supplied round-the-clock unlicensed security to G4 Fuels Ltd, one of the owners of Brookenby Business Park near Market Rasen.
In September 2020, the SIA's investigators requested information from Frater. He failed to supply all the information that the SIA asked for, which is an offence under the Private Security Industry Act 2001 (PSIA).
Jen Hart, the SIA's Criminal Investigations Manager said:
Trevor Frater chose to put the public at risk three years ago by deploying unlicensed security staff. His refusal to obey the law resulted in him losing his SIA licence and gaining a criminal record. Unbelievably this experience didn't dissuade him from further illegal and irresponsible action. The court found his behaviour serious enough to warrant the confiscation of more than £30,000 in ill-gotten gains. The SIA's regulatory regime exists to protect the public from unscrupulous operators like Frater. We will pursue persistent offenders against the Private Security Industry Act to the full extent of the law.
The SIA is also prosecuting three men who they discovered working unlicensed for Frater. Frank Quinton pleaded guilty at Grimsby Magistrates' Court on 28 May 2021 and was sentenced to a £100 fine. He was also required to pay costs of £779.40 and a victim surcharge of £39. Michael Chambers and Michael Whitfield have both pleaded not guilty and will be tried at Grimsby Magistrates' Court on 22 December.
Notes:
- by law, security operatives working under contract must hold and display a valid SIA licence
- read about SIA enforcement and penalties
- The offences mentioned above are:
- Frater: PSIA section 3 (working unlicensed); 3 counts of PSIA section 5 (deploying unlicensed guards); PSIA section 19 (failing to provide information to the SIA relating to an investigation)
- Quinton: PSIA section 3 (working unlicensed)
- read the Private Security Industry Act 2001
- the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) sets out the legislative scheme for the recovery of criminal assets, with criminal confiscation being the most commonly used power (confiscation occurs after a conviction has taken place)
- if a person has a POCA order against them, they have to pay it regardless of if they serve a jail sentence
