Member Article

Security alarm firm owners jailed and ordered to pay £1.4m

The owners of a company based in Warrington have been jailed following a case heard in Norwich.

SAS Fire and Security Systems Ltd, which had an office in Warrington Business Park on Long Lane, was run by three men – David Diaz, Ludovik Black and Gary McVey.

All three have been jailed after pleading guilty at Norwich Crown Court to contempt of court, having failed to comply with a restraint order. They were ordered to pay £1m under a confiscation order and a further £400,000 in legal costs.

Public protection officers in Warrington have congratulated colleagues in the London Borough of Hillingdon, which brought the case.

Warrington Borough Council’s assistant director of regulation and public protection, Pete Astley, said: “These three men were found guilty in 2012 of unfairly selling burglar alarms to residents.

“They would cold-call potential buyers and persuade them to allow an employee to visit and offer an alarm for free, or for £1. But during the visit it would turn out that to get the ‘free’ alarm it was necessary to spend thousands on a monitoring contract.

“Diaz, Black and McVey were each sentenced to 150 hours of community work. But they didn’t comply with that order, so they were found guilty of contempt of court.

“This was a complicated and long-drawn-out case, and our colleagues in Hillingdon council deserve the credit for seeing it through. These men had preyed on vulnerable residents.”

Pete Astley concluded: “We would advise everyone to be wary of cold-callers all the time, and remember that you can simply put the phone down if they’re being pushy. If they do visit your home, remember that if you ask them to leave they must do so, and if they refuse to leave you can call the police. You need never feel you have to sign up to a contract just to get rid of a salesman. And if in doubt, you can always call your local Citizens’ Advice Bureau or trading standards for advice.”

Diaz and Black were jailed for four-and-a-half months, while McVey was sentenced to two months in prison. The £1m confiscated under the Proceeds of Crime Act was directed to be divided between HM Treasury, the Courts and Tribunals Service and Hillingdon council.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .