Herts Police seize £1.34 million in assets from criminals

Police have seized assets worth more than £1.34 million from criminals over the last financial year.

This revenue, which is generated through offender confiscations, will be returned to victims of crime in compensation.

The offences include fraud, theft, rogue trading, theft from employer, and romance fraud which often involves online dating scams.

Police and Crime Commissioner David Lloyd said: “Since I took office in 2012 I’ve put the principle of Offender Pays at the heart of my strategy.

“Here is one great example of this action in practice. This result is testament to the hard work of Hertfordshire’s officers. They took swift and effective action to seize criminal funds, which will rightly go back to the victims of crime.”

This has been part of a pan-regional operation involving forces across the East of England.

Detective Inspector John Tacey of the regional economic crime unit said: “The Financial Investigators based remain committed to ensuring that victim compensation is one of the main priorities.

“Using the powers available to the Investigators under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, we will continue to strip offenders of their ill-gotten gains.”