Six men, who were part of a company that tricked organisations into revealing personal details about customers, were sentenced last week for conspiring to breach the Data Protection Act.
The case concerned a company known as ICU Investigations Ltd, which worked on behalf of clients to trace individuals, primarily for the purpose of debt recovery. It was run by two men - Adrian Stanton and Barry Spencer - and they were convicted last year of conspiring to unlawfully obtain personal data. Five of their employees pleaded guilty to the same offence and the company, ICU Investigations Ltd, was also found guilty as a separate defendant.
The court heard the company had routinely tricked organisations including utility companies, GP surgeries and TV Licensing into revealing personal data, often by claiming to be the individuals they were trying to trace. Clients included Allianz Insurance PLC, Brighton & Hove Council, Leeds Building Society and Dee Valley Water.
An ICO investigation estimated there were nearly 2,000 separate offences between 1st April 2009 and 12th May 2010.
The ICO found no evidence of criminality by any organisation that employed ICU Investigations Ltd. The information requested could typically have been obtained legitimately, and there was no evidence clients were aware the data had been obtained by illegal means.
Unlawfully obtaining or accessing personal data is a criminal offence under section 55 of the Data Protection Act 1998. The offence is punishable by way of ‘fine only’ - up to £5,000 in a Magistrates Court or an unlimited fine in a Crown Court.
In this case, Stanton was fined a total of £7,500 and £6,107 prosecution costs. The five employees of the company were also sentenced and received fines of between £1,000 and £4,000 and were found liable to pay prosecution costs of between £1,000 and £3,000.
Spencer and ICU Investigations Ltd - which will be sentenced as a separate defendant – will apparently be sentenced at a confiscation hearing on 4th April 2014.
Contact Lewis Nedas’ Criminal Lawyers in London
If you are concerned that your organisation or employees may have breached data protection legislation and you would like specialist legal advice, please contact our solicitors Jeffrey Lewis or Siobhain Egan on 020 7387 2032 or complete our online enquiry form here.
This blog post is intended as a news item only - no connection between Lewis Nedas and the parties concerned is intended or implied.
