Partners in pounds 1.8m fraud to pay up

DARIUS GUPPY and his partner Benedict Marsh, convicted of a pounds 1.8m insurance fraud a year ago, have agreed to tell the authorities where to find money that was never recovered, in an attempt to shorten their prison sentences.

In March 1993, Guppy and Marsh, both 29, were jailed for five years each for the insurance fraud and told they would have to serve an extra three years if they did not each pay a pounds 533,000 fine.

The two men appealed against their sentences, but last month judges in the Court of Appeal indicated that without co-operation in recovering missing funds, their appeal was likely to be turned down.

Initially, they were uncooperative, but both must have been worn down by prison life. Guppy was last known to be in Brixton jail, south London, and missed the birth of his first child.

In February 1993, while awaiting sentence after being found guilty by a jury at Snaresbrook Crown Court, east London, the two men indicated that, between them, they might return pounds 760,000. Judge Andrew Brooks said Guppy still had access to 'ill-gotten gains', and he added: 'I take the clear view that you should not profit from your acts.'

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said yesterday: 'The Court of Appeal has asked the CPS to verify certain information supplied by the appellants. The case has therefore been adjourned until 29 April so the police can make further inquiries.'

It is not known how much money the pair have identified. Detectives are known to be anxious to be allowed to travel to Switzerland in search of missing funds, which they believe could run into millions.

Guppy and Marsh, both Etonians, staged an elaborately faked armed robbery of jewellery from a hotel in New York in March 1990, and then claimed on their insurance. Soon afterwards, they attempted to sell the jewels that they had claimed were stolen.

(Photograph omitted)