Belgian woman wanted in connection with £1.1m stolen from a Bedford school

A 50-year-old Belgian woman is wanted by the police in connection to a missing £1.1million that had been destined for a Bedford school.

The cash, which had been destined for Mark Rutherford School, went missing from Luton Borough Council’s coffers.

And a report from the National Investigation Service (NATIS) says that “Should she come in contact with UK law enforcement, they’ll be aware she’s wanted by NATIS and take action to arrest her.

It also revealed that the same crime group attempted a similar fraud to acquire a £3.2m grant, which was foiled soon afterwards.

The second offence targeted Bedford Borough Council, South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership (SEMLEP) and Luton Borough Council, using the earlier infiltrated email accounts.

Springshine Limited controlled an account with HSBC which received the local growth fund grant in 2020.

The organised crime group illegally compromised an email account of a SEMLEP employee before contacting Luton Borough Council to advise of a change of bank account details for Mark Rutherford School.

A court order was authorised by a Judge in May 2020 to obtain information about the receiving bank account, according to the report NATIS.

“The sole signatory of the account is held in the name of a 50-year-old Belgian female with a registered residential address in north London,” said the report. “Inquiries confirmed she was the director of Springshine Limited until March 14th, 2020.

“On this same date, the company’s registered office address was changed from the north London address, effectively it’s thought as an attempt to disassociate the firm from the mandate fraud.

“Further inquiries with the local authority confirmed the Belgian national was registered at the north London property, but left that same month with no forwarding address known.

“This person has been in receipt of state benefits previously at this location, as well as other records associating her to it.

“It satisfies the investigation team that she’s a real person who had a genuine financial and administrative footprint in the UK, and not a ‘skin’ whose ID had been created to commit the fraud.

“Attempts to locate her to an alternative UK address, for the purpose of arresting and interviewing her, and to secure evidence, have been unsuccessful,” explained the report.

“Efforts to establish whether she’s absconded from the UK haven’t resulted in a conclusive response from the appropriate authorities.

“Her details have been recorded against the UK’s police national computer system, and a ‘wanted’ marker placed against her.

“Should she come in contact with UK law enforcement, they’ll be aware she’s wanted by NATIS and take action to arrest her.

“NATIS is ready to act on this scenario and has prepared paperwork to interview her to obtain an account and identify further lines of inquiry, as well as secure evidence.”

Information from Metro Bank shows £14,926.48 was paid to an account in her name, added the report.

“This account was opened in February 2020 and there was minimal balance until March 9th when three payments were entered for this sum from the Springshine Limited HSBC bank account.

“The account statement shows sporadic small level spending in UK retail establishments, until March 11th when £11,000 was withdrawn over the counter in cash and the following day when £300 was withdrawn in cash via ATM.

“This account was closed in August 2020. Metro has provided account opening documentation, excluding ID documents which it’s unable to find.

“That activity in the Metro account is the first instance where it can be shown she appears to have financially profited from the £1.1m fraud.”