£75,000 payback order for counterfeit clothing seller

A city centre shopkeeper has today (6 September) been ordered by York Crown Court to pay over £75,000 profit from the sale of counterfeit goods from his shop over the past six years, following a proceeds of crime investigation by City of York Council’s Trading Standards.

Frank Kerr, aged 70 of Milan House, Eboracum Way, off Heworth Green, York has been given three months to pay the £75,059.98 benefit from his crimes or face a two year prison sentence after which the debt will still be hanging over him. He has also been ordered to pay £15,000 to City of York Council towards their investigation costs, within nine months.

The investigation under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 followed a criminal investigation culminating in the prosecution of Frank Kerr in 2015. This followed the council’s Trading Standards officers finding racks of counterfeit clothes and other pirated luxury goods at Miss Diva, York. At the time, Mr Kerr told officers that he was providing a service for people who couldn’t afford the genuine article and that he felt the matter was quite trivial, having already been cautioned by Trading Standards officers for similar offences in 2012.

Mr Kerr pleaded guilty to 11 offences involving counterfeit goods, and 11 more as the sole director of Miss Diva Too Ltd. He also asked for 348 other offences to be taken into consideration. He was given a suspended four-month prison sentence.

At the time of that trial in 2015, the Recorder of York, Judge Stephen Ashurst, predicted that the “sting in the tail” of the case would come following the financial investigation into the proceeds of these crimes, when Trading Standards would ask the court to confiscate his assets.
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Police appeal following recent bicycle theft at Acomb

North Yorkshire Police is appealing for witnesses and information about a bicycle theft that occurred The Green in Acomb, York.

It happened between 7.30pm on Wednesday 9 August 2017 and 7.30am on Thursday 10 August 2017 when a garage was broken into at a property on The Green.

Two bicycles were stolen during the break in:
• A Yellow Cannondale hybrid bike
• A white Giant road bike

We are appealing for information about the theft and or the whereabouts of the bicycles.

Anyone with information that could assist the investigation should contact us on 101, select option 2, and ask for Hannah Best. You can also email hannah.best@northyorkshire.pnn.police.uk

If you wish to remain anonymous, you can pass information to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Please quote the North Yorkshire Police reference number 12170141164.

Contact details:: Hannah Best – #0728
hannah.best@northyorkshire.pnn.police.uk | 30728
Incident reference:: bicycle theft 12170141164

£100,000 to be spent on urgent fire risk assessments in York Council flats

Fire exit direction sign in York Council block

The backlog in undertaking fire risk assessments, in blocks of Council flats in York, is to be addressed with a £100,000 injection of funding.

Immediately after the Grenfell Tower fire in London it was revealed that 322, potentially vulnerable, properties had not been checked recently for fire risks.

The risk assessments are due to be undertaken every 3 years (1 year at hostel/sheltered accommodation) in the City’s 592 properties.

As part of a review, 70 properties were newly identified as needing an assessment. It appears that the Council had not previously recognised that these buildings had communal areas.

The Council now aims to complete the outstanding assessments by February 2018. Contractors will be employed to undertake the work.

The Council says that it has already installed hard wired smoke alarms at 5000 of its 7700 properties. The rest will be upgraded during the “tenant s choice” modernisation programme. In the meantime, tenants will be offered lithium (10 year) battery operated detectors in their properties as an interim measure.

Regular inspections are taking place aimed at removing any obstacles to fire exit routes in the communal areas of flats.

York has no Council owned blocks which are over 18 metres high.

A copy of the Council report can be read by clicking here The report makes no mention of the situation at privately owned blocks of flats in the City.