'Millions of pounds laundered by Wootton Bassett firms'

Using an inside man working for Carillion Telent, who won the contract to supply the Open Reach programme in 2009, Telkom International Ltd, of Wootton Bassett, was able to gather lorry-loads of telecommunications equipment and launder millions of pounds in cash through a bogus paper trail, it is alleged.

Stephen Smith, director of Telkom, was absent from the dock during the second day of the trial into multiple counts of conspiracy for theft and money laundering.

The jury were told that when inside man Ronald Porter was arrested, he had more than £100,000 in cash stashed in various locations, which the prosecution say were payments for his thefts.

Nicholas Haggan, prosecuting, told Bristol Crown Court: “We may never know who first came up with the idea of stealing from the Chelmsford depot, but when the BT Carillion Telent contract was signed it was a golden opportunity for Mr Porter and Mr and Mrs Smith to take full advantage and steal the free issue stock.

“It may be suggested BT materials can leak from the supply chain and become available for others to buy on the grey market. Once the delivery had been received, Mr Porter should have arranged for the stock to be recorded on the Telent computer system.

“If it did not happen it would be a recipe for chaos. He did not keep paper records, and we say that was because he was stealing from the stock.

"It seems the stock audit control was lacking, and the fact the stock was not being entered on the computer was not picked up.”

Evidence from drivers for Les Smith Haulage, who made many of the deliveries to Telkom International from Chelmsford, will say that deliveries would be taken early in the morning when only Mr Porter was on site at the Chelmsford depot. Mr Porter was often described as stressed and loading the lorries in a hurry, the court heard. He was also seen tearing labels from some of the goods.

“There was no reason why multiple bulk consignments should be delivered to the Telkom premises,” added Mr Haggan. “The chain of supply did not work in that direction.”

When Ronald Porter was arrested on September 13, 2011, he was found to have more than £100,000 in cash in various places, including £1,415 on his person in two wallets, £3,000 in a kitchen cupboard, and £96,015 concealed in a brand new £59,000 BMW X5. The court heard Mr Porter was paid an annual salary of £18,300 with no overtime from Carillion Telent.

Two lorry-loads of suspected stolen goods were hauled away from the Templar Way Industrial Estate after an anonymous tip-off led to a test purchase on August 3, 2011.

BT investigators witnessed employees feeding rolls of cable and spraying them with aerosol cans. A bin containing discarded labels carrying the name of Telent were seen, and much of the property bore marks suggesting labels had been removed.

When police attended later that day all the employees were arrested on suspicion of theft and handling stolen goods.

“Two lorry loads of property were taken from the site and to the BT distribution centre,” said Mr Haggan. “Police found a skip outside unit 11, found to contain a large number of empty aerosol cans of powerful paint stripper. They also found a large number of discarded BT consignment labels.”

Stephen Smith, 60, of Hook, Jana Smith, 36, of Grange Park, and Ronald Porter, 52, of Essex, are charged with conspiracy to steal telecommunications equipment from BT between September 2009 and August 2011, to a value unknown.

The Smiths, along with Philip Woodcraft, 57, of Ross-on-Wye, are further charged with two counts of conspiracy to conceal, disguise, convert or transfer criminal property relating to dealings with Telekom International Ltd, The Comms and CATV Supply Company Ltd, Heritage Services Ltd, and Eness Technology Ltd between November 2006 and August 2011.

Karen Allen, 59, and Robert Tennant, 47, both of Coventry are charged alongside Stephen Smith with conspiracy to conceal criminal property relating to dealings with The Telcom Store Ltd, Telkom International, and The Comms and CATV Supply Company between July 2003 and August 2011.

Two further counts of conspiracy to conceal criminal property are levelled against Woodcraft, John Cooper, 45, of Dagenham, and Mark Stanton, 49, of Romford, between August 2010 and April 2012, relating to Heritage Services Ltd, J.C. Waste Management and Recycling Ltd, Office Recycling Ltd and MS Telecommunication and Recycling Ltd.

Read about the first day in the trial here

All eight defendants deny the charges and the trial, expected to last until Christmas, continues.