Smith had bought a motor vessel, The Vertine, with andpound;55,000 provided by his co-defendant, John Marriott. In the words of the judge when imposing sentence, the respondent allowed himself to be used as Marriott’s ship owner and captain. The boat was used in April 1998 on a run to Heligoland to buy cigarettes and to smuggle them into this country without paying duty. On 8 May 1998 the respondent, Marriott and another man, David Russell, set sail once more for Heligoland. Two days later, on 10 May, they sailed The Vertine, laden with cigarettes, into the Humber estuary, past the customs houses at Immingham and Hull and so on for some 50 miles up the River Ouse until she reached Ocean Lock at the entrance to Goole. There is no customs house at this point. When the boat arrived at Goole, customs officers stopped and searched her. They found 1.25 million cigarettes on board. The excise duty payable on that quantity of cigarettes would have been andpound;130,666.40. He was found guilty of obtaining a pecuniary advantage by evading the duty, even though he remained liable to pay it.
Held: An importer of uncustomed goods, in this case cigarettes, who intends not to enter them for customs purposes and not pay any duty on them, derives a benefit under section 74 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 through not paying the required duty at the point of importation, where the goods are forfeited by HM Customs following importation, before their value can be realised by the importer. Having obtained a pecuniary advantage in the form and amount of the evaded duty and was therefore subject to a confiscation order up to the amount of his realisable assets accordingly.
Lord Rodger held that the later seizure of the cigarettes was like a case involving the subsequent loss of or damage to goods obtained in the course of a crime; such loss or damage would not affect the propriety of a confiscation order – consider for example the case of a burglar who hides the householder’s goods in the open air so that they are ruined by the weather or stolen by someone else.
Judges:
Lord Bingham of Cornhill, Lord Nolan, Lord Hoffmann, Lord Hutton and Lord Rodger of Earlsferry
Citations:
Times 17-Dec-2001, Gazette 14-Feb-2002, 2002] 2 Cr App R(S) 37, [2001] UKHL 68, [2002] 1 WLR 54, [2002] 1 All ER 366, [2001] All ER (D) 182, [2002] 2 Cr App R (S) 37, [2002] Crim LR 396
Links:
Statutes:
Criminal Justice Act 1988 81, Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 170(2)
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Regina v Dimsey; Regina v Allen CA 14-Jul-1999
A deeming section could create a taxation liability, even where the liability appeared to be duplicated. The clause under which the foreign income of a company came to be chargeable did not affect the existing liability to pay tax on the sums so . .
Cited – Regina v Banks CACD 9-Dec-1996
Valuation of drugs in confiscation order.
Applying the 1994 Act, sections 2(3) and 4(1) were directed to gross payments and not net profits. . .
Appeal from – Regina v Smith CACD 16-Jun-2000
The defendant appealed against a finding that he should forfeit a boat (the Vertine) used in a failed attempt to import a large quantity cigarettes whilst evading customs duty.
Held: ‘So far as the second limb is concerned — that is in . .
Cited by:
Cited – Bakewell, Regina v CACD 11-Jan-2006
The defendant faced allegations of evading duty on the importing of substantial quantities of cigarettes. A confiscation order was made. HMRC appealed saying it was too small a sum.
Held: ‘the liability of a smuggler who evades duty which he . .
Cited – Varma, Regina v SC 10-Oct-2012
The defendant had been convicted of offences under the 1979 Act, but then conditionally discharged. He had appealed against a confiscation order. The prosecutor now appealed against an order quashing the confiscation.
Held: The appeal was . .
Cited – Waya, Regina v SC 14-Nov-2012
The defendant appealed against confiscation orders made under the 2002 Act. He had bought a flat with a substantial deposit from his own resources, and the balance from a lender. That lender was repaid after he took a replacement loan. He was later . .
Cited – Harvey, Regina v SC 16-Dec-2015
Police had discovered quantities of stolen goods at the appellant’s business premises. He was convicted of receiving stolen goods, and confiscation order made. He now appealed from the inclusion in that order of sums of VAT which had already been . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Customs and Excise, Criminal Sentencing
Updated: 05 June 2022; Ref: scu.167021