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'Ruthless' loan shark jailed
Ben Bailey5 Aug 2009
A loan shark was branded a "ruthless individual" by the judge who jailed him today.
John Kiely, 36, was sentenced to five years at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court for offences including blackmail and illegal money lending.
Judge Adrian Smith told multi-millionaire Kiely: "It's clear to me you are a ruthless individual who has displayed a high degree of criminal sophistication."
Kiely charged up to 2,437% interest on loans and used an army of enforcers to collect debts owed by poor families on Manchester housing estates, the jury that convicted him last month heard.
One of his victims, Donna Ockerby, 45, claimed she was left fearing for her life and was forced to move to a secret location to escape him.
Kiely was convicted of two counts of blackmail for his actions towards her.
He was also found guilty of one count of acquiring criminal property, two counts of concealing, disguising, converting or transferring criminal property, and two counts of unlawfully failing to give notice of a change in circumstances.
Kiely also admitted, at an earlier hearing, five counts of illegal money lending.
Mrs Ockerby, an auxiliary nurse, borrowed £300 from "Johnny Boy Kiely" to pay for her wedding dress in January 2007 because she was "absolutely desperate", the jury heard.
He dispensed the money from a roll of £20 notes from his black Range Rover, complete with the personalised number plate "B0Y".
Mrs Ockerby said she faced aggressive demands for money when she struggled to repay her debt because her working hours were cut.
On one occasion Kiely turned up unannounced at her semi-detached house and grabbed hold of her. Another time he turned up and banged on her door early in the morning, the court heard.
Mrs Ockerby told the jury she feared for her life when a concrete block was thrown at her window just hours after a debt collector called.
After this incident she moved away from her home in Openshaw, Manchester.
Prosecutor Ben Mills said that Kiely, who has a conviction for assault and comes from the travelling community, made a profit of £2.9 million between October 2003 and his arrest in October last year.
Mr Mills said he began working as an illegal loan shark in 2003, and started the unlicensed money lending company Project Finance UK Ltd two years later because it was more tax-efficient.
He said Kiely set up Millennium Finance Ltd last year, obtaining a licence from the Office of Fair Trading.
But he said Kiely continued to collect money from his unlicensed loans and "recycled" £342,300 through Millennium Finance.
At the time of his arrest last October he estimated he had £800,000 in outstanding loans spread between 900 clients.
His wealth enabled him to pay cash for a £868,650 mock-Tudor seven-bedroom house, complete with turret, in picturesque Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire.
Reader views (1)
Loan sharks and drug dealers share the title of 'Scum of the Earth' and should be dealt with accordingly.
We never seem to hear of them being pursued for unpaid taxes by the Revenue and too many are allowed to hold on to their ill-gotten gains although they have no other means of earning their cash other than by criminal activities. Strip their assets and leave them penniless otherwise they will be Mr Big in prison and swagger out after their sentence to start all over again.
- Scotty, Cambridge UK, 05/08/2009 13:16
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