The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has secured its first Unexplained Wealth Order (UWO) to freeze the assets of a property in the Lake District it believes to have been purchased through the proceeds of crime.

The property is valued at around £1.5 million and is owned by Claire Schools, the ex-wife of convicted solicitor Timothy Schools.

Timothy Schools was jailed for 14 years in 2022 for stealing almost £20 million of investors’ money from a legal financing fund, using the money to fund a luxury lifestyle.

In all, around 500 investors lost more than £100 million in his dishonest scheme and some 35,000 victims had their cases affected.

The SFO has now turned their sights on Mrs Schools, who has been given 28 days to produce information about how the property was purchased.

It may use this information to a bring a case to seize the house later. The UWO also means that if Mrs Schools attempts to sell the property, the proceeds are secured.

UWOs are issued when there are reasonable grounds to suspect that an individual’s known sources of income could not have been obtained through lawful conduct and this UWO follows the confiscation of a further £1 million from Mr Schools under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) the aim being to provide the victims with some compensation.

Helen Gregory, Forensic Director at Milsted Langdon, said: “UWOs remain a rarely used tool within the justice system and have been used in high value cases of suspected criminal activity with the onus on the defendant to demonstrate where the source of funds.

“In these situations, the use of a forensic accountant, to demonstrate clearly how the asset was acquired could prove useful in building a defence, but equally this expertise is also used by the prosecution to query any such evidence provided.

“UWOs add provisions to POCA, as no prior criminal conviction is needed as a basis to apply for one.

“So, in the case of Mrs Schools, if she cannot provide evidence that funds used to purchase the property were from legitimate sources, the SFO can seize it and there is no necessity to link the funding of the property to the criminality of Mr Schools.”

Sources: Gov.UK