BILLERICAY: Man jailed for pipeline scam

A RETIRED pipeline worker who acted as the "inside man" for one of the largest illegal fuel operations ever uncovered in the country has been jailed.

Denis Bardwell, 62, of Kennel Lane, in Billericay, accepted cash payments to tap into pipelines at Coryton fuel refinery near Grays, allowing hundreds of thousands of pounds' worth of fuel to be taken.

Seven people, including Bardwell and three other Essex men, who were involved in a major fuel fraud, were jailed for a total of 10 years and eight months on Friday, having appeared at Leeds Crown Court.

Investigators from Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) discovered that the gang were running a operation centred on the distribution of illegally imported mixed oil, with the theft of petrol and diesel from the Essex refinery being a lucrative sideline. The scam cost the taxpayer more than £2 million in lost excise duty and VAT.

Bardwell pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal on May 28, 2009 and pleaded guilty to two counts of money laundering on December 17, 2009.

He was sentenced to two years in prison.

The court heard that father and son James and Russell Green, of South Woodham Ferrers, drove oil tankers to the refinery and stole diesel and unleaded petrol from the pipelines.

The tankers were then driven on to yards controlled by the Greens near Corringham.

Russell Green, 36, a haulier of Bickerton Point, was handed a 12-month sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered to complete 300 hours' community service after pleading guilty to conspiracy to steal.

He was ordered to pay back £55,200 within three months under the proceeds of crime act.

His father, James Green, a retired businessman of Hillcrest, was sentenced to three years in jail for conspiracy to steal, having been convicted by a jury back in November 2009.

The fourth man, Manickavasauan Surenthiran, 47, a petrol station manager of Gordon Road, Ilford, who helped the others to pass on the fuel, was sentenced to eight months in prison, suspended for two years, and ordered to carry out 100 hours' community service after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to evade excise duty.