Dangerous Lincoln sex offender jailed

Two mums from the Ingham and Saxilby villages near Lincoln earned thousands of pounds from selling fake designer clothes and watches, a court heard.

Sally Turzanski, 29, and Rebekah Groves, 30, set up a Facebook group to market their items with customers paying by cash.

The group grew to over 15,000 members and the volume of cash coming in was so much that at one point Groves texted her friend saying “RICH RICH RICH!!!”

The pair earned at least £20,000 each from the enterprise before they were raided by Trading Standards officers who discovered counterfeit designer items at their homes.

Lincoln Crown Court heard that fake items found during raids on the homes of Turzanski and Groves included Chanel shoes, Rolex watches, Ralph Lauren polo shirts and vests, Adidas trainers and T-shirts, Nike trainers and T-shirts and a Louis Vuitton baseball cap.

The court was told that most customers would have known they were buying fake items because of the prices they paid.

Alison Lambert, prosecuting, said: “The defendants were managing the Facebook group. They were purchasing goods, arranging orders and delivery.”

She said investigations into the enterprise began in early 2019 and Turzanski’s then home was searched, but no counterfeit goods were found.

Two months later Trading Standards discovered the group had been re-established with Turzanski and Groves being two of the three administrators, and the investigation resumed.

Raids were carried out in December 2019 on the homes of both women. A large amount of cash and 103 counterfeit items were found at Groves’ home. 12 counterfeit items were found at the home of Turzanski.

Miss Lambert said the investigation revealed that the two women initially ran the enterprise with a man, but fell out with him over the financial arrangement and by the end of November 2018 they had set up on their own.

The 1,400 text messages between the two of them found on Groves’ mobile phone included one in which she wrote “RICH RICH RICH!!!” and another when she wrote “We’ll be in the shit if we get found out”.

The court was told that neither of the defendants had any previous convictions.

Sunil Khanna, for Turzanski, said she was introduced to a man who told her he would show her how to make money. Initially she thought that ex-warehouse goods were involved only to discover they were fakes.

“At the time she had problems with her personal life. She was on benefits with two children.

“They thought that what they were doing was not bad. The customers pretty much knew what they were getting given the prices.”

Tom Heath, for Groves, said she was in a vulnerable position and suffers from anxiety and depression.

“She was trying to support three children on her own while in receipt of benefits. There was a shortfall and she was struggling to make ends meet.

“She has demonstrated remorse. She is desperately afraid of going to prison.”

Sally Turzanski, 29, of The Green, Ingham, and Rebekah Groves, 30, of The Sidings, Saxilby, each admitted two charges of possession of criminal property and eight charges of possession of goods with false trademarks for sale.

They were each given a 12 month jail sentence suspended for two years with a three month electronically monitored night-time curfew. A total of £3,954 was ordered to be forfeited and each was ordered to pay £200 towards prosecution costs.

Recorder William Harbage QC told them: “This was a systematic operation and although you may have been introduced to this by a third party it is absolutely clear that you picked it up and ran with it and when you were not happy with the terms and conditions of the other person you set up on your own and traded in counterfeit goods yourselves.

“Based on the banking figures you gained over £20,000 each as a bare minimum.”

A village store owner admitted breaching his alcohol licensing conditions while his licence was being revoked by South Holland District Council on Wednesday.

Arumugam Sarankan, admitted that while he was in the council chamber answering a review called by Lincolnshire Police, his shop City Stores, on Bridge Road in Sutton Bridge, was open and manned by an employee without a personal licence to sell alcohol.

The committee was carrying out a licence review after a man at the store served two underage children and was later found to be an illegal worker during a Lincolnshire Police spot check on August 24, 2021.

Lincolnshire Police’s Alcohol Licensing Manager Sergeant Kim Enderby said 14 stores had been tested and Mr Sarankan’s shop was the only premises where two 15-year-old volunteers were able to buy a bottle of pink Hooch despite being asked for ID and saying they had left it at home.

Investigations found the Sri Lankan worker’s visa had expired in 2014, and he was in the country illegally. He was arrested and transported to custody for immigration checks.

The worker, who claimed he was a relation of Mr Sarankan, said had been working at the shop since November 2020 and lived in the premises. Mr Sarankan denied he was a relation.

“We have serious concerns in relation to what we found, we have got a wholesale breach of license conditions, an illegal worker with no reasonable explanation and then we have sales of alcohol to two children,” said Sergeant Kim Enderby, told the committee meeting.

Police found no written authorisation to the shop’s w

orkers for alcohol sales, no incident and refusals log, no age verification policy, no staff training and the store was not operating challenge 25. CCTV did not conform to the force’s specification and Mr Sarankan was said to spend a lot of time away from the store.

Despite reassurances in the meantime the situation had improved, a further police visit on October 12 again found a worker on their own and issues with access to incident and training records. Police also failed to line up some of the records with CCTV – despite accounting for an incorrect time record – with Sgt Enderby suggesting that some recorded incidents were not “genuine”.

South Holland District Council’s licensing committee on October 20. | Photo: Daniel Jaines

Mr Sarankan and his representative, Suresh Kanapathi, from Arka Licensing consultants, did not dispute criminal activity had taken place at the store, nor that his employees did not hold personal licences. However, they did not think they were breaching conditions concerning CCTV, incident refusals logs, training and age verification policy.

Mr Sarankan took over the shop in December 2020 but the premises licence was previously reviewed in similar circumstances in 2011.

Mr Kanapathi told members it was a small family business and that Mr Sarankan handled most matters including going to the cash and carry, which was why he was away from the store.

They told councillors there had been a “comprehensive” package of training and organising going on and that they were now up to scratch.

Members were also told a trained person was due to start but had not begun at the time.

However, Mr Sarankan then confirmed that while he was at the meeting a worker was still at the shop without a premises licence.

The committee concluded there had been breach and the evidence provided did not prove staff had been adequately trained or that underage individuals would be challenged.

“The panel have no confidence in the management of the premises and that the conditions of the premises licence will be adhered to in the future,” said chairman Councillor Henry Bingham.

Speaking following the meeting, Sgt Enderby said: “It’s a really strong decision by the council, and sends a really strong deterrent message, both to the business that we were here with today and to any other businesses that considering employing illegal workers because it has serious consequences both for the person who’s employed and for legitimate businesses who were there competing against.”

Lincolnshire County Council is set to permanently scrap its Saturday waste collection service its Stamford and Mablethorpe.

The two towns do not have their own tips, so the waste collection service was run in Stamford’s Cattle Market car park, but it was suspended in March 2020.

And this week the Environment and Economy Scrutiny Committee at Lincolnshire County Council made the recommendation on Tuesday, October 19, to permanently discontinue the service.

The committee voted eight in favour and three against. A previous attempt to terminate the service was rejected by the committee back in 2016.

The supplementary waste collections will be subject to a decision by Daniel McNally, Executive Councillor for Waste and Trading Standards, between October 21 and 28, 2021.

Student Rose Battey presented a petition at the meeting, which demands that the county council restores the Saturday recycling materials collection from Stamford Cattle Market car park. | Screenshot: LCC meeting

A petition set up by 18-year-old Stamford student Rose Battey, which so far has over 1,600 signatures including from South Kesteven District Council Leader Kelham Cooke, was presented at the meeting.

Watch the full meeting here (from around 12.50).

The petition demands that the county council restores the Saturday recycling materials collection from Stamford Cattle Market car park. Rose said it is a “well-used, accessible, local service – there is no justification for removing it”.

On the petition page, she said: “Stamford, with over 20,000 residents, is the largest town in Lincolnshire without a waste recycling centre, and with proposed housing developments, it is growing. The absence of recycling options encourages littering and fly-tipping.”

She added: “Stamford residents are forced to travel to our nearest waste recycling centre in Bourne; not everyone has access to a suitable car, can afford the petrol costs or can spare the time for the trip.

“Notwithstanding that the journey creates CO2 emissions that are pumped into the atmosphere. How is that ensuring that Lincolnshire meets the government’s target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050?”

The petition has the support of both of Stamford’s county councillors. After the meeting Richard Cleaver, county councillor for Stamford West, told The Lincolnite: “I’m disappointed that the scrutiny committee decided to accept the recommendation to discontinue the Saturday waste collection services in Stamford and Mablethorpe.

“I think it was a wasted opportunity that they did not take up my suggestion to investigate how these once a week collection services could be retained and improved to increase recycling and avoid further waste being sent to landfill.”