Thread: Well-known boxing promoters led a luxury lifestyle on meagre benefits

Well-known boxing promoters led a luxury lifestyle on meagre benefits
Saturday, July 31, 2010



​A LAVISH custom-built villa in Thailand with a swimming pool... this is the luxury lifestyle money launderers Michael and Christine Dalton led.

But it was partly bought with cash from crime – when they were supposedly surviving on meagre benefits, a court heard.

The well-known boxing promoters – both jailed in September 2008 for benefit fraud and money laundering – bought the swish villa – now worth more than £200,600 – partly using the proceeds of crime, it was claimed.

They transferred £36,785 cash overseas even though they were allegedly living on benefit payments at the time, the court was told.

The couple – the father and stepmother of notorious Grimsby robber Richard Dalton – had been jailed after admitting laundering not less than £200,000 from the proceeds of crime.


CUSTOM-BUILT: The lavish Thai home of Christine and Michael Dalton, said to be part of the profits from their crimes.

Michael Dalton, 61, of Weelsby Avenue, Grimsby, was jailed at Leeds Crown Court for a total of five-and-a-half years and Christine Dalton, 54, was locked up for two-and-a-half years. She has since been released.

Michael Dalton admitted two offences of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, between January 2002 and May 2003, and obtaining about £33,000 in benefits by deception through a statement made in August, 1999.

Christine Dalton admitted obtaining £12,346 in tax credits by deception through a statement made in July, 2003.

They are both now back before the same court for an ongoing confiscation hearing to decide if assets, said to be the proceeds of crime, should be seized.

thisisgrimsby.co.uk

hardly lavish, very standard here

"swish villa"

or as its more commonly known here: "A small house on a middle class moo baan".

Worth £200,600 ???

Hardly looks "lavish". Tiny yard, neighbor so close it practically can be classed as a duplex, bathtub-size pool. Nothing special.

it always gives me a pleasingly warm fuzzy glow when i read of lowlife benefit scroungers getting found out, prosecuted and banged up.

£200,000 criminal pair given jail terms

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Published Date:
13 September 2008
By Andrew Robinson


A COUPLE who led a life of luxury on £200,000 obtained through benefit fraud and other criminal activity have been jailed.


Boxing promoters Michael and Christine Dalton admitted laundering the cash amassed from criminal activity at their boxing club in Grimsby.

The pair are the father and stepmother of notorious criminal Richard Dalton, who carried out a series of armed raids across Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire with his partner in crime Michael Lydon, also from Grimsby.

The pair fled their high-profile trial in 2001 and spent two years on the run as "Britain's
most wanted" before being captured and handed long jail sentences.

Michael and Christine Dalton also admitted falsely obtaining benefits of £33,000 and £12,346 respectively.

Sentencing them yesterday at Leeds Crown Court Judge Paul Hoffman said: "You were both wallowing in money and using it to buy property in Grimsby and Thailand.

"There were two distinct frauds, long-term fraud and money laundering."

Stephen Hellman QC, prosecuting, told the court it was accepted that the sum the Daltons admitted to converting or transferring – not less than £200,000 – was the proceeds of their criminal activity between January 1997 and July 2005.

Michael Dalton, 60, pleaded guilty to two offences of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice between January 2002 and May 2003, and obtaining about £33,000 in benefit by deception.

He claimed incapacity benefit while working as a labourer and had been caught on video claiming to be crippled but seen carrying heavy suitcases.

Christine Dalton, 52, pleaded guilty to obtaining £12,346 in tax credits by deception through a statement made in July 2003.

The court heard the pair, of Weelsby Avenue in Grimsby, had 56 bank and building accounts, 14 credit cards and 17 National Savings accounts.

They bought houses in Grimsby as well as land in Thailand on which they built a house with a swimming pool.

Their main home in Grimsby was also fitted with an American walk-in fridge and sauna.

They purchased five separate houses before paying off the mortgages in cash and transferring the properties to other members of the family including Michael Dalton's daughter Paula and their 13-year-old granddaughter, who could not legally own the houses as she was under age.

Paula Dalton, 40, denied two offences of assisting another to retain the benefit of crime and two offences of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, but the Crown offered no evidence and they were ordered to lie on file.

Defending Michael Dalton, Nigel Edwards told the court that Dalton had a psychiatric condition that required medication and that he was now on incapacity benefit because a debilitating condition.

Gordon Stubbs, defending Christine Dalton, said she had been diagnosed with depression because of the proceedings.

Judge Hoffman said: "I am satisfied that it is one of the most complicated frauds and cover-ups that I have dealt with.

"It was a web of lies, you put property in family members' names and even into the names of grandchildren who were not old enough to own property."

The pair were both jailed for two-and-a-half years, but Michael Dalton must also serve a further three years for breaching a suspended sentence.

After the case, Det Insp Paul Welton of Humberside Police Economic Crime Unit, said he was delighted the pair had been brought to justice.

He said: "The pair committed large scale money laundering and benefit fraud to obtain payments to which they were not entitled. They then laundered the proceeds of this fraud, disguising the proceeds through a maze of bank accounts, premium bonds and properties.

"The Daltons led a life of luxury; buying land in Thailand and building a villa on it with a swimming pool; racking up more than £26,000 on travel and air fares, and spending in excess of £15,000 on their house in Grimsby and fitting it with luxurious items including a sauna.

"They stole from the public purse and enjoyed living the high life that the average, law abiding members of society cannot afford to experience.

"They have been brought to book as a result of a huge amount of hard work by the Economic Crime Team at Humberside Police.

Looks like the Swimming Pool does not belong to his house either, there is a road between them, and a fence

Originally Posted by Butterfly

hardly lavish, very standard here

Not many people in Thailand can afford orange grass