Financial Investigation Events Log
Case Number: FI 0607/0108
Date I Events Initials
15 Nov II commence a financial investigation into MFM
06 Miss Janet Louise Skinner the ex
subpostmaster of North Bransholme Post
Office. The following documents that were
received from Dianne Matthews on the 19
September 2006 were entered onto the
document schedule
Item 1 HMRC Check on J L Skinner
Item 2 Credit Register Check JL
Skinner
Item 3 Land Registry Check 224
Goddard Ave.
15 Nov I Obtained a copy of the offender report item 4 I MFM
06
15 Nov I Requested “Personnel” printout and Bank MFM
06 statements from Dianne.
15 Nov _ I Received “Personnel” printout and P356 by E I MFM
06 mail
15 Nov I An updated Credit Check form submitted MFM
06
17 Nov I Copies of authorities and bank statements MFM
06 from received from Diane Matthews
27 Nov I Credit Check form received back, associated I MFM
06 with 2
7 Dec Submitted an up to date Land Registry MFM
06 Check on 224 Goddard Ave
7 Dec Spoke with Diane; she confirmed that Mrs MFM
06 Skinner rented the Post Office when she was
subpostmaster. She also stated that recently
the new officer in charge a Wendy Lyell had
been suspended on suspicion of Theft and
the police are involved. Dianne to keep me
informed. Diane has submitted the Committal
papers and the there is a hearing and the
case will be heard on Tuesday. Currently the
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matter is being discussed with the Solicitors
re Charges
7 Dec Spoke with Thea at Kensington Mortgages MFM
06 L “she confirmed that they
have a Mortgage for about £96K and a
secured loan for about £16K i
Home address
7 Dec Nationwide House Price Calculator values MFM
06 the her house at £103,225 which is less than
the loans on the oroperty (7 )
7 Dec MFM
06
Check submitted
7 Dec Call out to Dianne to discuss the future MFM
06 conduct of the case and to find out who she
served the authority on wi
7 Dec Received LR Check oni. MFM
06 associated with 3
7 Dec Spoke to Diane she will speak with her team I MFM
06 leader about liaising with the police in the
Wendy Lyell case. She is not convinced that
Wendy Lyell is responsible for the vast
amount of the £59k. This is because she
lives in rented accommodation in a quite run
down area of Hull, with no signs of any sort of
high life. In addition Miss Skinner did not
report to anyone that she was short as would
be expected if she was not responsible for
the thefts.
8 Dec Spoke with Thea at Kensington Mortgages to I MFM
06 ask if the house owned by Miss Skinner was
valued at the time of the increased Mortgage.
Thea asked for a DPA, which I agreed to do.
Spoke to Diane to clarify what the position
was in respect of the charge was. Dianne
stated that it is a case of wait and see what
happens to Wendy Lyell, but in any event the
committal is sufficient to re draft the theft
charge as false accounting if appropriate
later. In any event we will have to know the
value of the house before we decided on
pursuing a Confiscation order so DPA Fax
sent (8)
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8 Dec Thea at Kensington Mortgages rang back to I MFM
06 say that they had the property valued at
£135K when they issued the previous loan
11 Dec I Telephoned Thea and left a message for her I MFM
06 to phone me re is the mortgage a repayment
or endowment
11 Dec I Telephoned Dianne at Welcome Financial MFM
06 Services, she said that the company is a loan
company but she would get the MRLO to
phone me back
11 Dec I Spoke with Diane and informed her that I MFM
96 would sent her a section 18 Provision of
Financial Information Form. Asked her to
make sure that it is served if we get an early
guilty plea. Section 18 Sent poo
14 Dec I Land Registry Check retumed oriSR°, MFM
06 L _.... No registered estate (9)
5 Jan ‘Senta Copy of a section 18 Juliet for service I MFM
07 on Court
10 Jan I E mail from Diane detailing the Confiscation I MFM
07 time table (10)
16 Jan I Received from Diane a notice from the courts I MFM
07 about the confiscation timetable. Associated
with 10
16 Jan I Received from Juliet the same info re the MFM
07 confiscation and a copy of the section 18.
Associated with 10
22 Jan_ I Asked Dianne for the details of her contact at I MFM
07 the Halifax
24 Jan I Received contact details for Halifax MFM
07 associated with 6
25 Jan I Tried to speak with Kathleen Kerr on the MFM
07 number on the letter. The Leeds Call centre
had now closed I was advised to speak with
Police Liaison. Spoke with Claire. She
confirmed that Janet Louse Skinner Has
three accounts with the Halifax they are
GRO
25 Jan Spoke with Lynn at Halifax Customer MFM
07 Services in Glasgow. She confirmed that they
had the authorities and that the number on
one of them was incorrect
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25 Jan I
07 L
[
Lefta message with Welcome, Z
telephone me
_.II MFM
) for the MLRO Mr Andrew Bradbury to
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Financial Investigation Events Log
Date Events Initials
25 Jan I Spoke with Chris Cooper of Friends MFM
07 provident They will detail what the Direct
Debit is for if I forward a DPA to Suzanne
Flighton. GRO:
25 Jan I Senta letter to Miss Skinner to ask for MFM
07 authority to disclose for any financial
institution for which she has an account and
in particular the Halifax accounts and the
Welcome Financial services Account. (11)
25 Jan I DPA sent to Suzzanne Flight at Friends MFM
07 Provident (12)
26 Jan I Spoke with Yvonne at GE Capital Motor MFM
07 Finance. She will provide details of the
finance. arrangements. if. senda DPA. Fax
26 Jan I Message left for iow Bradbury to phone MFM
07 back
26 Jan I DPA Sent to GE Money (13) MFM
07
26 Jan I Obtained a fax number for Andrew Bradbury I MFM
07 GRO $ and faxed him a DPA (14)
29 Jan I Call from Derek Edwards Friends Provident. I MFM
07 The policy with them is a term assurance
policy and as such it has no value except in
death.
29 Jan I Call from Andrew Bradbury Welcome MFM
07 Financial Services. Mrs skinner took out a
loan in May 2005 for £3k for a Kitchen
refurbishment. The loan has not been paid
for about 6 Months
30 Jan I Call from Yvonne at.GE “Motor Finance. Mrs I ‘MFM
07 skinner had a car ?._GRO__ I a Chrysler
Grand Cherokee but she voluntary
surrendered it in Sept 06 and GE Motor
Finance sold it at action. They also have a
debt of £5500 outstanding
2 Feb 07 I Informed by Diane that Miss skinner had MFM
been sentenced to 9 Months imprisonment
and the Confiscation Hearing has been set
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Financial Investigation Events Log
for the 25 May 2007
13 Feb I Received a Financial Statement from Miss MFM
07 Skinner via her solicitors (15)
13 Feb I Wrote to Miss skinners solicitors to request I MFM
07 authority for disclosure from Miss Skinner.
This may have been overlooked in view of
Miss Skinner's imprisonment. Letter
associated with 11.
13 Feb I Track and trace carried out on letter to mis
07 skinner it was delivered in hull on the 26.
Associated with 11
5 Mar 07 I Message left for Mr K W Turner MFM
5 Mar 07 I Requested Remuneration details from MFM
Janice Thompson
12 Mar I Received remuneration details from Janice
07 (16)
14 Mar I Spoke with Thea at Kensington Mortgage
07 Company Ltd. She confirmed that Miss
skinner currently owes £96,746.69 on her
mortgage and £17, 924 .24 on a secured
loan. (Total £114,670.93) She also
confirmed that KMG used carried out an
internal and external valuation of 224
Goddard Ave in July 2006 and valued the
property at £135,000.00 prior t giving a
further loan
14 Message left for Mr K W Turner at Max Gold I MFM
Mar07 Partnership to make contact
14 Mar I Spoke with Janice Thompson she confirmed I MFM
07 that Miss Skinner had been the temporary
subpostmistress at Bodmin Road between
the 26 May 2004 and the 1% Feb 2005.
14 Mar I Spoke with Mr K W Turner. He stated that MFM
07 Miss Skinner would give bankers authority
and it was agreed that I would contact him in
seven days if I had not received.
Mar 07 I Obtained Copies of the Tape Summaries MFM
(17)
15 Mar I Obtained a copy of the note to Written byD I MFM
07 Hoyles (18)
15 Mar I Copy of RPI figures (19) MFM
07
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Financial Investigation Events Log
15 Mar I Copy of Nationwide house price Calculator MFM
07 values house at £136,999.00 (20)
26 Mar I Obtained up to date RPI Figures including MFM
07 Feb 07 associated with (19) Nationwide data
the same
26 Mar I Spoke with Mr Turner he has written to Miss I MFM
07 Skinner and not got a reply. He suggested
that I write to her direct. Letter sent by
registered post To Miss Skinner at HM
Prison and YO! New Hall
2 Apr 07 I Received a covering letter and authorities MFM
from Miss skinner, Letter and copies of the
authorities are now 21. Letter sent to HBoS
with 2 of the authorities by Special Delivery
2 Apr 07 I Informed Emma, Mr Turner’s Secretary of
the receipt of the authorities
19Apr I Received from HBoS copies of statements
07 for the three Halifax accounts as detailed in
the letter from Catherine Yuill (item 22)
10 May I Carried out an internet search on Peter
07 Stockill Ltd. It is a car dealership for Chrysler
and Jeep
10 May I Confirmed with John Jenkinson that Miss
07 Skinners Branch was not audited between
Transfer on the 27 May 2004 and her
suspension.
10 May I Spoke with Joanne Whisker’
07 Current Subpostmistress at North
Bransholme about the rent she pays. She
pays £700 per month to a Mr Kerry Patel
who on behalf of London Prime Premises.
She understands that the property has
change hands several times since Miss
Skinner was the subpostmistress.
10 May _ I Telephoned Steve Miller Multiple Account
07 manager. He will make enquiries to see if he
could Identify who ran the multiple before it
was taken over by Miss Skinner
10 May _ I Spoke with Joanne Whisker top obtain Mr
07 I Patels Phone number which is;
10 May Mr Patel stated that he bought the shop
07 premises at auction in June or July 2005. At
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Financial Investigation Events Log
the time a shop Canadian General Store
operated from the Premises and he obtained
rent from them. Miss Skinner is thought to
have paid them rent
10 May I Spoke with Neil at HBoS. He confirmed that
07 the were no accounts associated to Miss
Skinner with the number,
10 May I Spoke with Mathew at Kensington
07 Mortgages. Miss Skinners Mortgage was
issued by them on the 28 Oct 05 and the
secured loan was sent to her by a cheque for
£14,500 but he would have to go to another
department to see which account it was
cleared through
10 May I Spoke with Louise at HBoS she confirmed
07 that Janet Louise Skinner did not have any
other active accounts whilst she was
subpostmistress. She also confirmed that
debit cards transactions are only payable to
business. Accounts if she had used her debit
card to carry out a transfer it would show as
a transfer.
10 May I Forwarded an email to HBOS to request
07 information and also sent the request by fax.
Details in item 23
11 May I Forwarded a second E mail to HBoS to
07 check the debit card payments, also sent the
request by fax (associated with 23)
11 May I Obtained a Printout from the Land registry on
07 the House Price Index for City of Kingston
upon Hull (Item 25)
11 May _ I Received a call from Steve Miller he will E
07 mail me all the info he can provide
14 May I Email sent on the 11 May Obtained. (Item
07 25)
15 May I Spoke with David Massey at the Land
07 registry to ask how to work out the RPI. He
will find out and let me know
15 May _ I Spoke with Roger Wybrow ARA he has
07 never used HPI as he used Nationwide or
HBoS they are much the same but in any
event they are a guide it is down to the
Defendant to Value the property.
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Financial Investigation Events Log
Telephone United News or.
spoke with Debbie Clay. Sh
07 had forwarded the defence response to the
Prosecutors statement in the post Telephone
Marylyn and asked her to fax it
16 May I Spoke with Anne Edwards United News she
07 will find out details of whom they paid rent to
for North Bransholme office and what the
arrangements re rent when Janet Louise
Skinner took over
16 May I Received the defence response by fax (item
07 26) Sent an e mail to Juliet with my response
16 May I Spoke to Sharion Hamleton at T
07 Manager at Clerical Medical or}
I. GRO _ she carried out a search on both
names NINO Postcode and the different ref
number on the HMRC check unable to
identify any products either existing or
ceased
16 May I Telephoned Wendy Rowlands at HMRC to
07 see if she could throw further light on the
matter she was unable to do so
17 May I Hard copy of 2" statement of information
07 forwarded to Juliet
17 May_ I E mail received from Anne Edwards re
07 United News involvement (Item 27)
22 May I Telephoned Joanne Whisker she said that
07 she took over the office in October and
shortly after Wendy Lyell was suspected of
theft as money was missing from her
individual stock unit. W Lyell has been
dismissed but Joanne did not think the police
due to insufficient evidence had pursued the
matter. She will obtain a Crime reference
number and let me know.
23 May I Spoke with Joanne Whisker. The crime
07 reference number was DS/1428257/2006.
Ms Lyell was short about £2800. She
admitted losing a bag of £2.00 coins
amounting to about £580. She was also
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Financial Investigation Events Log
about £900 short in prepared bundle of
money. She tried to Borrow £2000 off Avril to
dismissed. Her home address is:
‘has a NS&I account. She added the police
were not prosecuting
hide the shortage. Ms Lyell has been
23 May I Called Humberside Police and was told the
07 enquiry team would contact me back.
23 May I Spoke with Dianne Matthews she confirmed
07 that the police were not prosecuting and had
nothing further to add except that Wendy
Lyell started work in January 2006, after the
first losses.
23 May I After a number of missed calls received a
07 call in the evening. I arranged for them to call
me back after 1600hrs on the 24"
24 May _ I Received a call from Sgt Taylor at
07 Humberside. He said that Ms Lyell had been
interviewed and gave an account for the
shortage, to the effect that it had been an
error rather than dishonesty. Advice was
sought from the CPS who thought that there
was insufficient evidence to prosecute. He
did not think that a search took place and he
is not aware of any financial intelligence. He
added that the Police had informed us of the
situation in January
25 May I Telephoned Dianne to confirm date of Miss
0o7 Lyell starting work at the Branch
25 May _ I Received a call from Dianne the Wendy Lyell
07 started working at the Branch in November,
The time the losses started
25 May I Informed Ms P Doherty of the above fact
07
25 May I Case put off until the 29 August 2007
07
25 May _ I Spoke with Dianne asked her to send me the
07 statement she had re Wendy Lyell and any
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Financial Investigation Events Log
info she had
25 May I Spoke with DC Day at Humberside FIU to
07 see if they had any financial intelligence on
Ms Lyell. She had not but I was informed that
the officer in th as PC Wendy _
Sawyer on, i
telephone that number and toid that she was
on duty at 1400hrs Message left for her to
phone
25 May _ I Called. again and left a further
07 message
25 May _ I Spoke with Dianne and asked why she had
07 not informed me that police were not
prosecuting Wendy. She said that she had
told me when she found out. I did not recall.
25 May _ I Received an E mail from Dianne with
07 statement of Wendy Lyell (item 28)
25 May ICalled; GRO: again requested e
07 mail address but was told that they would not
give the email address over the phone, was
told a further message would be sent to PC
Sawyer to phone me By 2200hrs call not
received
25 May _ I Prepared a Credit Check and a copy of ther
07 HMRC check for Dave to authorise re
Wendy Lyell and also sent a HMRC Check
to Paul Woods
26 May I Posted the Credit Check and Hard copy of
07 the HMRC Check to Dave
4 Jun 07 I Listened to message From PC Sawyer on
my Mobile, which had been left during my
annual leave.
4 Jun 07 I Received a memo from Juliet about the
hearing on the 25 May 2007 (item 29)
4 Jun 07 I Confirmed with Dave that he had received
and authorised the Credit and HMRC
checks. He had sent them off this morning
(Out of OFFICE) nnennne nen enn
4 Jun 07 I Telephoned! GRO spoke
with PC Jackson who told me PC Sawyers
name is Zoe Sawyer and that he would leave
a message for her
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Financial Investigation Events Log
4 Jun 07
Confirmed with Anne Edwards that 12
Grandale was a Post Office address. She
confirmed that it was and that Miss Skinner
4 Jun 07
Telephoned
informed that PC Sawyers is employed at
Foster Street but mail to the address goes
astray so I would be best writing to PC
Sawyers 2004 Humberside Police Priory Rd
Hull HU5 5SF but it may take a day or two to
get to her. On preparing the letter it occurred
to me that I should Fax the letter called back
Faxed letter item 30
5 Jun 07
Informed by Rod in the intelligence team
that the Credit Check for Wendy Lyell had
come back that she left the property in Feb
2006.as then is when she registered to on
the voters list. Rod will send me details He
does not know how to do a Name and DOB
Check will speak with Alan Parsons on his
return tomorrow.
6 Jun 07
Received the Land Registry Direct: Register
View. The land is owned by Kingston Upon
Hull Council
6 Jun 07
Spoke with Andy and asked if he could do a
general search for Wendy Lyell on her name
and DOB. He will look into it.
6 Jun 07
Called Dianne to ask her to check to see that
she did not have a further address for
Wendy. She is away until the 11 June 2007
6 Jun 07
Andy Parsons phone back to say that Rod
may have misunderstood the Credit Check
she is only The O6 ate on the voters list may
have been the last list available. Their was a
credit check for Next in Jan 2007. Asked
Andy if he could find out how to do location
checks and do one on name and DOB just
to confirm.
6 Jun 07
Received the credit check back re Wendy
Lyle item 32
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Financial Investigation Events Log
8Jun 07 I Received a message from PC Sawyers that
a credit heck will be submitted
8 Jun 07 I Credit check revealed an alias of Beckett.
Further Credit check submitted to Dave for
signature and sent an e mail to Matthew
Williams to include Beckett on the HMRC
check.
27 Jun I Received an E mail from Juliet dated the 18
07 Jun 2007 asking Dianne if Ms Lyell had been
prosecuted. Diane copied me in on the
reposnse dated the same date. Today
received a hard copy of the Defence
skeleton argument
27 Jun I Received the HMRC Check Re Wendy Lyell
07 (item 34) no mention of the name Wendy
Beckett as requested in e mail of the 8" Jun
2007. Spoke with Rachel Smith she will
make enquiries to see if check was
submitted
27 Jun I Credit Check re Wendy Beckett received
07 Item 35
27 Jun I Response from Rachel Smith, they had
07 checked Beckett with negative results
27 Jun I Received a letter from Laura-Lee MeKenna
07 HBos dated the 25 Jun 2007 item 36
27 Jun I Received the following Correspondence from
07 PC Sawyers,
Crime Print out and miscellaneous
correspondence item 37
Copy of Statement from Joanne Wisker item
38
Copy of Statement from Avril Worsley
Devere item 39
Record of interview and Questions item 40
28 Jun I Spoke with Andy at RBS Cards 01702
07 278021 to establish any details on the alias.
He will call back.
28 Jun I Discussed the case with Rob Wilson and he
07 saw no difficulty with writing to MS Lyell and
asking her for authority to disclose
information. Request letter sent
28 Jun Responded to Juliet to the defence argument
07
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Financial Investigation Events Log
6 Jul 07
Received an email and an advice memo
from Juliet dated the 5th July. Hard copy of
the Prosecutors Response to the defence
Skeleton Argument is in the post
6 Jul 07 I Prosecutors response received (Item 41) in
the post responded to Juliet
9 Jul 07 I Carried out a trace and trace on item ZH
9678 0613 6 GB item was not delivered on
the 29/06/07, No answer. Track and trace
item 42.
QJul07 I Neil Western to make enquiries at Hull
Delivery Office to see the state re the item
i ‘have been flooded. He phoned
back Risworth Ave has not been flooded and
I have asked that a further delivery be
2 In the area
GRO ‘the road was flooded but it is not
thought that the properties were but the
delivery Postman will be asked tomorrow.
9 Jul 07 I Neil western phoned to say that a second
delivery attempt had been made to Mrs Lyell
at. i. It does not appear to the
office manager that the house is occupied.
Dianne Matthews informed
12 Jul Message from Angela Maloney... GRO...
07 [GRo! was not flooded .
30 Jul The letter that I sent to Wendy Lyell
07 ‘- ‘} was returned as not ci
for Diane informed. Dianne states that she is
under pressure and is going to discuss the
job with Jude Trotter. Letter item 43
28 Aug I Obtained the latest RPI figures (appendix 8,)
07 Nationwide House Price calculator figures
(appendix 9)
28 Aug_ I Left a message for Thea at Kensington
07 Mortgages to contact me.
28 Aug I Matthew phone back Mrs Skinner currently
07 owes Kensington Mortgage Company Ltd
£100, 792.33 on the Mortgage and
£18,730.58 on the secured loan. These total
£119, 522.91
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