A husband and wife from Leeds convicted of consumer protection offences against vulnerable people have been ordered to pay back £917,287 under the Proceeds of Crime Act following a hearing at Leeds Crown Court.
Claire Wray (aged 38) and Paul Wray (aged 51, both of Clayton Wood Close, Leeds) both received prison sentences in March 2017 following their convictions. They mis-sold mattresses, beds and mobility equipment to elderly consumers through their company Dreamwell Limited.
Claire Wray, the sole director of the company, received 12 months in prison after being found guilty of misleading, banned and aggressive commercial practices, and money laundering. She was also disqualified from being a company director for seven years. Her husband, Paul Wray, company secretary for Dreamwell Ltd, was sentenced to 28 months imprisonment for illegal commercial practices in July 2016 and was disqualified from being a company director for nine years.
Recorder Iqbal QC ordered that the proceeds of crime confiscation order is to be paid within 3 months or the Wrays would face a further 6 years imprisonment. He also ordered that compensation totalling £20,757 was to be paid to the Wray’s victims from the confiscated monies.
The couple was arrested on 9 December 2014 following over 50 complaints which triggered an extensive operation over an 18-month period by the National Trading Standards Yorkshire & the Humber Regional Investigations Team, based at City of York Council and the North East Regional Asset Recovery Team based with West Yorkshire.
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To secure AGS membership, garages must meet certain criteria and maintain those standards through routine audits and checks. They must also be prepared for the investigation of any customer complaints by Trading Standards officers who could intervene to help resolve them to the satisfaction of both customer and garage.
