Ringleaders of criminal gang jailed over passport plot that helped UK's 'most wanted fugitives'

Anthony Beard, 61, and Christopher Zietek, 67, were caught after a covert surveillance operation by the National Crime Agency found they provided fraudulently-obtained genuine passports to organised criminals over a five-year period.

Beard was jailed at Reading Crown Court on Tuesday for six years and eight months after admitting conspiracy to make a false instrument with intent and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

Zietek was sentenced to eight years for conspiracy to pervert the court of justice, conspiracy to make a false instrument with intent and converting criminal property.

Customers paid between £5,000 and £15,000 for the highly sought after documents, which allowed criminals to travel and operate abroad under a different identity.

Acourt was arrested as a direct result of the National Crime Agency investigation, after NCA officers discovered he had contacted Anthony Beard in an effort to obtain one of his fraudulent passports.

Acourt has always denied involvement in the murder of Stephen Lawrence and has never been convicted of that crime.

But he was extradited back to the UK from Spain and jailed for his part in a major drugs conspiracy.

Beard and Zietek’s crime group exploited vulnerable people, often with drink or drug problems, who were around the same age as their clients and with similar facial features.

They were paid for providing their expired passports, and their details were used to apply for new ones.

But the passport fraudsters would attach photographs of the criminals on the applications instead of the original passport holders.

The gang also paid others to countersign the application forms and falsely claim that photographs were genuine.

Codenamed Operation Strey, the NCA probe began in 2017 and was one of the most significant investigations undertaken by the Agency in recent years.

National Crime Agency senior investigators believe Beard, from Sydenham, south east London, had been fraudulently procuring passports for 20 years and would likely have obtained hundreds of documents over that time period.

He was involved in every aspect of organising and applying for the passports, including collecting application forms and planning the details to be provided by the applicant and the counter-signatory.

His fingerprints were found on many of the forms, and contact numbers he included were for numerous ‘burner’ phones he operated.

Handwriting expert analysis established that he completed most of the application forms himself.

A voice recognition specialist also identified Beard on numerous audio recordings of calls to the Passport Agency, as he chased-up applications and pretended to be the people named on the forms.

Zietek, who was previously known as Christopher McCormack exploited his high level criminal connections to act as a broker between Beard and the organised crime groups looking for passports.

Among the recipients were Glasgow murderers Jordan Owens and Christopher Hughes, Liverpool drug trafficker Michael Moogan and Manchester fugitive David Walley.

The NCA captured covert audio recordings in Zietek’s house of incriminating conversations with Beard and others about the application processes and their customers.

In one conversation Zietek was heard telling Beard how one of those hoping to obtain a passport was wanted for murder, serious assault, firearms and drug offences

Undercover officers also observed meetings Anthony Beard had in cafes, coffee shops and other locations with identity donors, counter-signatories and criminals applying for one of his passports.

The National Crime Agency’s Deputy Director Craig Turner said: “This organised crime group supplied fraudulent passports that enabled some of the UK’s most serious and dangerous criminals to operate internationally under false identities and pose a sustained threat to the public.

“The investigation demonstrates the NCA’s unique role in tackling the most serious and complex crime threats facing the UK.

"We have identified a chronic, under the radar conspiracy that enabled drug and firearm traffickers, murderers and fugitives to evade justice, and we have worked across borders to dismantle it and the bring the masterminds to account.

Another member of the crime group, Alan Thompson, from Surrey, was jailed for three years.

He worked for Zietek and would also help facilitate meetings and act as a broker between Beard and some of those applying for a fraudulent passport.

The NCA investigation exposed a worrying weakness in the UK’s passport application system, which allowed criminals to exploit the renewal process.

The Home Office said those processes had since been tightened.