Loan sharks told: pay back £195,000 or go back to prison

TWO loan sharks who received £500,000 lending cash illegally have been ordered to pay back thousands of pounds.
Kevin White, 57, of Bramdean Drive, Leigh Park, pictured talking on the phone and Adrian Dowse, 46, of Botley Drive, Leigh ParkKevin White, 57, of Bramdean Drive, Leigh Park, pictured talking on the phone and Adrian Dowse, 46, of Botley Drive, Leigh Park
Kevin White, 57, of Bramdean Drive, Leigh Park, pictured talking on the phone and Adrian Dowse, 46, of Botley Drive, Leigh Park

Adrian Dowse and Kevin White were jailed last year for running an illicit loans book for taxi drivers in Havant.

Now they have been forced to remortgage or sell their homes to pay back a combined £195,000 in just three months.

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Portsmouth Crown Court also heard the pair’s two year and nine-month sentence was slashed to two years on appeal.

Adrian Dowse, 46, of Botley Drive, Leigh ParkAdrian Dowse, 46, of Botley Drive, Leigh Park
Adrian Dowse, 46, of Botley Drive, Leigh Park

But now Dowse, 46, faces serving an extra year, while White faces an extra 14 months if the cash is not paid back on time.

Sarah Jones, mitigating, said: ‘Mr White and Mr Dowse have absolutely no intention of going back to prison.

‘Both are very changed men as a result of what has happened.

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‘I would invite the court to acknowledge these changes and how both men have dealt very responsibly with the aftermath.’

Kevin White, 57, of Bramdean Drive, Leigh ParkKevin White, 57, of Bramdean Drive, Leigh Park
Kevin White, 57, of Bramdean Drive, Leigh Park

Dowse benefited by £260,000 but was ordered to pay back £80,000 in three months or face a year in prison.

White benefited by £260,000 and must pay back £115,000 in three months or go to prison for 14 months.

When they were sentenced last November, the court heard the pair had not been violent to anyone and that they ‘did not exploit individuals’.

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But the sentencing judge said they were ‘cash rich’ and that their victims were in ‘very straitened circumstances’ and needed to be ‘protected from entering into unscrupulous financial arrangements that would take them further into financial debt’.

Adrian Dowse, 46, of Botley Drive, Leigh ParkAdrian Dowse, 46, of Botley Drive, Leigh Park
Adrian Dowse, 46, of Botley Drive, Leigh Park

Their loans book was worth £769,681 over more than two years.

Working ‘hand-in-hand’ they made loans of cash and sold cars and minibuses in Havant and Portsmouth, imposing a rate of up to 50 per cent interest.

They imposed £6,000 in penalties and received £520,080 in repayments.

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At the proceeds of crime hearing yesterday the court heard they would not have to account or pay for cash that was still with the lenders.

Kevin White, 57, of Bramdean Drive, Leigh ParkKevin White, 57, of Bramdean Drive, Leigh Park
Kevin White, 57, of Bramdean Drive, Leigh Park

Tony Quigley, from the Illegal Money Lending Team, which prosecuted Dowse and White, said clawing back the cash meant the men would not profit from their crimes.

Mr Quigley said: ‘The Proceeds of Crime Act ensures that loan sharks like White and Dowse are not profiting from deceitful illegal money lending activity.

‘The hearing sends out a clear message that loan sharks who are caught flouting the law will be prosecuted and stripped of their available assets. This sort of behaviour will not be tolerated in Hampshire and we will continue to work with the police and local authority to crack down on loan sharks.

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‘If you or someone you know has been the victim of a loan shark, please call the IMLT on 0300 555 2222 or visit www.stoploansharks.uk.’

Dowse, of Botley Drive, Leigh Park, and White, 57, of Bramdean Drive, Leigh Park, previously admitted two money laundering offences, possession of criminal property and converting criminal property.