Watches worth an estimated £500,000-plus have been seized by police investigating the activities of the former owners of an historic hall in County Durham.
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) today (Tuesday, September 3) executed a search warrant during which 12 potential luxury watches were seized at a property in Dorset.
It is part of a proceeds of crime investigation, related to a suspected £76 million care home fraud, which includes the purchase of Windlestone Hall, near Rushyford, County Durham.
SFO officers, backed by Dorset Police, attended a home in the county from where they recovered watches branded as Patek Philippe, Rolex and Hublot, which, if authenticated, would be valued at more than £500,000.
A warrant was obtained on suspicion that evidence and items including luxury watches, that may have been acquired using the proceeds of crime, were being stored at the property.
It is part of the wider investigation announced by the SFO in March into the UK-registered property developer Carlauren Group, which led to the arrest of three people and saw two properties raided.
The group collapsed into administration in November 2019, leaving elderly residents to vacate their homes and more than 600 investors out of pocket.
It was said that over four years, the company purchased 23 properties across the UK, including Windlestone Hall, offering an annual ten-per cent return on investment in its renovation of these properties into high-end care homes.
Only nine of the properties were ever operational as care homes.
The watches seized today will be taken to a secure storage location before being authenticated and valued.
If they are found to be fake, they may be destroyed.
Following today’s activity, Nick Ephgrave QPM, Director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said: “We work hard to recover criminal assets and prevent suspected offenders from enjoying, or concealing, the spoils of their crimes.
“Many investors remain affected by the collapse of the Carlauren Group and we are progressing our investigation at pace to deliver justice for them.”
(Image: The SFO)
Windlestone Hall, once the family home of the Conservative Prime Minister of the 1950s, Sir Anthony Eden, was sold in 2017 just days before going under the hammer at auction.
The Elizabethan-origin Grade II*-listed hall had a list price, at auction, of £400,000, despite having been marketed by estate agents at a “competitively-priced” £850,000 only five months earlier.
It was the second time in its recent chequered history that it had been put up for sale after its former owner, convicted fraudster William Davenport, sought £2.5m for the hall, its grounds and associated buildings, in 2014.
He had passed himself off as a wealthy US businessman to dupe Barclays into financing his purchase of the hall, bought in 2012 from Durham County Council for what was seen by some as a controversially low figure of £241,000.
Davenport went on to be jailed for six years for mortgage fraud and the property was repossessed by Barclays.
The mid-16th Century country house, heavily renovated in 1821 to create a stately home, sits within 400 acres of designed parkland.
It has stood in a state of disrepair in recent years, with security stepped up to deter trespassers and ‘urban explorers’ looking to plunder abandoned buildings.
In July 2021 the county council granted planning permission for a large-scale renovation, to feature 13 new four and five-bed detached houses for sale to help pay for the wider development.
See more County Durham news from The Northern Echo by clicking here
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The plans were put forward by the charitable Windlestone Park Estate Preservation Trust, which had come into its ownership since the Carlauren Group's collapse.
Trustees had a “vision” their proposals would have “a transformational impact” on the area, in economic, social and community terms.
Despite the objections of some local residents, the plans, backed by English Heritage, won unanimous support from councillors.
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