A traveller ‘King’ buried in a ‘six-figure solid gold’ coffin headed a notorious crime gang who ran one of Britain’s biggest-ever cowboy building rackets, it can be revealed today.
Frank Thompson, 69, who died in July, was given an extravagant send-off during which his coffin was taken on a six day ‘farewell tour’ of the UK in a Rolls Royce before being laid to rest in South London.
Hailed by relatives as ‘businessman through and through with great wisdom, one said of Thompson: ‘He was the head of a very big family, the king of the family – everyone looked up to him.’
But what the family did not say was that in 2011 Thompson and three accomplices were jailed for a total of 20 years after making £1.3m by tricking elderly folk aged between 65 and 92 into paying extortionate fees for botched-up jobs.
Prosecutors said branded the scam ‘systematic fraud’.
One elderly lady paid over £31,000 for shoddy paving work on the driveway at her seaside home in Blackpool, Lancs., whilst others paid many thousands of pounds for work worth just a few hundred pounds.
The traveller gang, who at the time lived on a caravan site in Cleveleys, Lancs., also targeted addresses in Manchester and Hertfordshire.
Thompson and his accomplices were trapped after one of the group used his mobile phone to film himself boasting on YouTube how he used a 98 pence carton of milk as a driveway sealant to con an ex-serviceman out of £800.
Frank Thompson appearing at Preston Crown Court under the name Frank Tomney
A mocked-up newspaper front page was created as a ‘tribute’ to Thompson, using a picture taken at court before his sentencing years earlier
Eleven victims agreed to testify in court out of over 40 customers who made complaints. During police raids, three safety deposit boxes were found with cash inside totalling £480,775. Officers also found a £17,000 cash haul stuffed in a designer shoe box.
Thompson was sentenced at Preston Crown Court, where he appeared under the name Frank Tomney and was jailed for five and a half years for conspiracy to commit fraud by misrepresentation and tax evasion and handling stolen passports.
Three other gang members were jailed for charges including conspiracy to commit fraud by misrepresentation and tax evasion.
Rose petals were thrown onto the coffin as it was lowered at a South London cemetery
Floral tributes reference Thompson’s ‘occupation’ which he used as ruse to con elderly victims
The gang were later ordered to pay back all 42 of their victims.
After his death, the only clue as to the truth of Thompson’s true background was a photo of him mocked up on a newspaper front page which was mounted on easel surrounded by carnations.
The incriminating snap was in fact taken of him outside the court by the press as he faced trial over the cowboy building racket.
Earlier his family told how the ‘gold coffin’ was ordered by Thompson’s son from abroad and took weeks to arrive.
Relatives claimed the lavish burial was designed with the goal of showing the world that ‘there are some really good gypsy travellers’ and added: ‘He was never a flash man, believe it or not. He’d be proud of what his sons did for him, and held him as, more than anything else.’
But when Tomney and his accomplices were convicted 14 years ago, retired accountant Brian Smith, 80, of Norris Green, Stockport – who was charged £16,000 for driveway work worth £800 – said: ‘These men should have all been made to do National Service to learn respect.
‘My step grandson was killed in Afghanistan on Valentine’s Day last year. He went into the army after being a cadet when he was 17 and died an honourable death and I’m very proud of him.
‘I felt quite foolish after these guys had been to my house. My wife was very upset about it too as she could see that I was upset. I just felt like a fool for being taken in by what they said. I will certainly never employ doorstep workers again.’
Police said the gang, who traded under company names Discount Driving, Budget Driving, Premium Paving and Budget Paving, usually targeted old folk living alone and would ‘cold call’ them offering to do odd jobs.
They would give a cheap quote only to then ‘bounce up’ the price by falsely saying there was a problem with the job.
One accomplice was spotted on YouTube operating his chemical sealant scam, pulling a two-pint carton of milk from his high visibility jacket and laughing: ‘£800 for a bottle of milk.’
Family members with Thompson aka Tomney’s ‘six-figure solid gold’ coffin before burial
Det Sgt Mark Unsworth, from Lancashire Police, said at the time: ‘These men would cruise around the area to see the age of the people and perceived that older people would be easier to target – they had the gift of the gab.
‘They would go by offering them a good price, but their sole aim was to get the maximum price they could.
‘They were superficially charming; they were able to spin a web of deceit with those people by offering them the world – then they started to become intimidating to the people. They made sure they got paid in cash. On one occasion they took an old lady to the bank to get it.
The detective added: ‘They’re organised criminals and conned elderly people out of their life savings.
‘The pretence of undertaking paving work to an acceptable standard was simply the means to deprive innocent victims of extortionate amounts of their hard-earned cash.
‘What makes these crimes all the more upsetting is the intimidation felt by the victims and the callous nature of these men.
‘They carried out woefully substandard block paved driveway work at these people’s homes, before demanding extortionate prices despite the poor quality of the work. They even failed to build steps properly – they were loose – you could pick the bricks up.
‘We had to put bricks on the manhole cover at one house because it was so dangerous.’
John Dilworth, Head of CPS Complex Case Unit added: ‘This was not just a case of shoddy workmanship or opportunistic crimes, this was systematic fraud over a considerable period of time and across a wide area.
‘These men were superficially charming with victims but in reality treated them with contempt and in some cases conned retired people out of their life savings. They’ve shown no remorse.”
Mugshot of Frank Tomney after his arrest for heading family crime gang who exploited OAPs
Thompson and his accomplices were later ordered to pay back a total of £956,264.47 between them during a proceeds of crime act hearing.
The kingpin was judged to have benefitted by £801,366.75 was ordered to pay that total within six months or face a further four years in prison. He had assets, which included over £700,000 in bank accounts, a house and three cars.
Other gang members were also made subject of confiscation and forfeiture orders.