A market trader pocketed pnds stlg 300,000 by sell
A market trader pocketed pnds stlg 300,000 by selling tens of thousands of stolen books on his stall, a court heard today.
(Thurs)
Ronald Jordan, 61, allegedly sold a variety of travel and children’s volumes which had been thieved to order from stores across London and from airports.
But his crooked scheme ended after he was arrested at his east London pitch following months of undercover police work, jurors heard.
Derek Davis, 37, his brother Raymond Davis, 35, Brian Cuffy, 40, and Pedro Pegado, 27, were also detained after being filmed delivering the stolen goods to Jordan’s stall by officers, it is claimed.
Southwark Crown Court heard how after Jordan’s arrest 17,639 travel and children’s titles worth nearly pnds stlg 200,000 were recovered from his white van, home and garage.
Mr Mark Gadsden, prosecuting, said investigations into Jordan’s assets revealed he was a ‘wealthy man’ with a net worth of pnds stlg 300,000 from his ‘illegitimate’ business.
He said: ‘In the other defendants case there was not this vast share.
Their cut was far smaller.
‘Jordan took the lion’s share – the larger share going to Mr Jordan.
‘He was the king pin of the conspiracy.
‘The others are those who go out to do the dirty work of taking the books of the shelves.
He stands by the van and gets the thieves to steal.
‘
Jurors heard how the mountain of books seized included a variety of travel manuals from different publishers such as The Eyewitness, Rough Guide, Lonely Planet Guides, Timeout Guides and A-Z books.
There were also children’s books including Dr Zeuss, Tintin, and Spot.
Film footage of the stall at Dominion Street, Moorgate, City of London, showed that an average of 40 customers purchased books from Jordan every day.
Mr Gadsden said if the books seized had been sold to 40 customers at an average pnds stlg ten a volume during the eight month conspiracy it would have netted Jordan a profit of pnds stlg 250,000.
The stolen books retrieved also had markings which identified the stores they had been stolen from over the months, the court heard.
The ultra violet etchings were introduced by shop managers because of the growing problems of thefts.
They included WH Smith, Waterstones, Border Books, Selfridges and stores at Gatwick and Heathrow Airport.
‘Because of the high incidents of theft of books, especially travel guides from central London stores and Gatwick and Heathrow airports, the managers institutionalised a system of marking their stock with ultra violet marks in order that they could be easily traced,’ said Mr Gadsden.
He added: ‘A large number of these marked books were found in the possession of Mr Jordan.
‘
The prosecutor said that an ultra violet light and marker pens were found in Jordan’s van which he used to deface the legitimate markings.
Mr Gadsden told the jury how Jordan was first arrested on July 2 2002 and then again on July 29 after he was caught ‘red handed’ with a pile of stolen books.
Jordan, of Squires Lane, Finchley; Derek and Raymond Davis, of Levita House, Charlton Street, Islington, north London; Cuffy, of Central Hotel, Argyle Street, Bloomsbury, central London; and Pegado of Wix’s Lane, Clapham, south London; all deny a charge of conspiracy to steal between 16 November 2001 and 11 July 2002.
Jordan further denies a charge of handling stolen goods and receiving stolen goods.
The trial continues.
ends
