Former cop ‘was paid to hunt heirs on duty’

A former police sergeant accused of looting cash and property from the homes of dead people received payments from an ‘heir hunting’ firm while he was on duty, a court heard.

Graeme ‘Taff’ Williams, 66, retired as a ‘sudden death co-ordinator’ in 2013 but continued to ‘volunteer’ in the role at Stoke Newington police station.

His job was to find family members of the deceased and log their belongings and valuables.

Williams is accused of stealing more than £10,000 and valuable furniture from the homes of three deceased people after visiting their homes.

He received £11,504.02 in ‘discretionary’ referral fees from heir hunting firm Fraser and Fraser, while working as a police volunteer, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard.

Company boss Andrew Fraser told jurors that as far as his firm were aware Williams was retired.

‘I knew he was retired because I was invited, as lots of other people were to his retirement. I didn’t know he continued to work at Stoke Newington police station,’ said Mr Fraser.

‘A number of cases were referred to us after his retirement. I think there might have been a dozen or so.

‘A couple of cases were looked at but we didn’t spend much time on them but couldn’t establish much value in them.

‘After he retired he was a private individual. These referral fees were paid out at discretion.

‘Payments of £8,000 and £3,504.02 were paid in discretionary referral fees in relation to two estates.’

The court heard that on at least one occasion firm Fraser and Fraser had received an email addressed to them from Williams’ police email address.

‘The whole firm thought he had retired from the police,’ said Mr Fraser.

‘If I knew he was still any matters referred to use from a police officer I would not have made payment.

‘We saw him as a member of the public from after his retirement.’

Police Inspector Timothy Love was based in Hackney and Stoke Newington for most of his career, where he worked with Williams.

He was Williams’s line manager until his retirement in September 2013 and after he continued in the same role as a volunteer.

Explaining Williams’ role he said he would deal with solicitors, family and any other interested parties as a single point of contact.

Complaints had been made by the coroner about the system, which was ‘a bit of a mess’ and ‘needed bucking up’ so Williams was put in place to deal with it.

Inspector Love said: ‘The property store in Hackney was an absolute mess I think from top to bottom, issues around finding exhibits in there, dispsing cash, wasn’t being banked.

‘It had problems because it was understaffed and they were massively overwhelmed.’

Inspector Love denied any knowledge of Williams providing sudden-death details to the firm Fraser and Fraser, or even that it existed.

He also denied knowledge of Williams receiving any payments.

‘As a volunteer I would have thought it would come out as a conflict of interest.

‘At the very least questions would have to be asked.

‘There would be a report created, there most definitely is a conflict of interest.’

Inspector Love wrote a report upon Williams’s retirement in 2013 singing his praises saying he was held in high esteem and had been in ‘just about every role in the book’.

‘This is no mean feat, he is to be congratulated for this work,’ he wrote.

Williams, of Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, denies three charges of theft and one of fraud.

The trial continues.