Inverness rapist who faked his death has sentence extended

A rapist who tried to evade justice by fleeing Scotland then faking his own death in the US has had his prison sentence extended.Kim Avis, a market trader from Inverness, was on bail when he flew to Los Angeles in February 2019.He faked a fatal swimming accident on a Californian beach but was later arrested and returned to Scotland where he was convicted of rape and sexual abuse offences and jailed for 15 years. Avis has had two months added to his sentence after he was found guilty of possessing a personal communication device at HMP Edinburgh in May last year.
He was sentenced at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last week.
Nine days after arriving in the US in 2019, Avis's son reported him missing at Monastery Beach, telling the local sheriff's office that his father had gone for an evening swim.The beach is near Carmel-by-the-Sea on Big Sur, a rugged and mountainous stretch of Californian coastline.But the authorities became suspicious after they were made aware that Avis was facing charges of sexual attacks against women and girls in the Highlands.Five months after he disappeared, US Marshals traced Avis in Colorado Springs - more than 1,300 miles (2,092km) away from where he was reported missing.The following week, in July 2019, he was arrested.Avis was returned to Scotland, where he was held in prison until his trial in May 2021.
A jury at the High Court in Glasgow found him guilty of raping three women.He was also found guilty of attempting to rape one of them when she was 12, and guilty of sexually assaulting a girl when she was 11.He was further convicted of failing to appear for the previous trial.In total, Avis was found guilty of 14 charges from between 2006 and 2017. He had denied all the charges.In June 2021, he was jailed for 12 years for the sex crimes he committed, and three years for failing to appear in court.Judge Lord Sandison said at the time that Avis had been a well-known street trader in Inverness for many years, busking and selling jewellery from his market stall and even receiving a good citizen award.But the judge said there was another side to Avis, with a background report describing him as "a controlling and dominant personality".He said Avis had manipulated, managed and coerced his victims.

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Wales Online

a day ago

• Wales Online

He left the country after a £50m money-laundering case. Now he has new life in sun

He left the country after a £50m money-laundering case. Now he has new life in sun The money laundering sparked a stranger-than-fiction chain of events involving a lottery winner, student houses and a bomb plot Half Moon Bay, an Auckland suburb where businessman Gregory Candy-Wallace appears to be based A man who ran companies that a court found laundered vast sums of money in Wales and England appears to have started a new life thousands of miles away. New Zealand authorities are "assessing" whether Gregory Candy-Wallace should be disqualified from managing businesses in the country after we informed them he had been operating there. It comes after the 64-year-old Brit settled a legal claim in the UK last year over his having controlled a network of firms that defrauded the taxman, HMRC, of tens of millions of pounds. There was due to be a civil trial at the High Court in London but the National Crime Agency (NCA) reached a settlement with Candy-Wallace and his companies last June, recovering assets worth £5.8m — a fraction of the more than £50m diverted from the taxman. A judge later said the money recovered was "the proceeds of crime". Now WalesOnline can reveal Candy-Wallace — a water polo enthusiast from Sussex whose companies used addresses in Cardiff for the money-laundering scheme — has more recent ventures in Auckland, where he is a majority shareholder in two companies and owns 49% of a third. We obtained court documents from the UK court case listing Candy-Wallace's address as a detached five-bedroom house in a wealthy coastal suburb of Auckland, with an outdoor pool and picturesque views onto the yacht-dotted Half Moon Bay. The home is valued at around £900,000. The Auckland-based firms are FM Group Ltd, which bills itself as a chemical wholesaler; ACM Environmental Services Ltd, an "environmental consultancy service"; and the curiously named 846361 Ltd, which says it is in the business of waterproofing buildings. Article continues below Candy-Wallace was previously a director of another Auckland company, Amoeba Investments Ltd, which classed itself as being in the "rental of residential property" industry. The firm owned a four-bedroom semi-detached house in Yorkshire, England, which the NCA applied for permission to seize before reaching a settlement. Who is Gregory Candy-Wallace? Candy-Wallace does not appear to be active on social media and — barring coverage of his court case — there is little trace of him on the internet. What can be found is mostly tied to his fondness for water polo, from refereeing in the Sussex league in 2013 to winning a tournament in Guam the same year and playing for a club in Dubai in 2022. Members of Sussex's water polo community told us they were puzzled when Candy-Wallace suddenly "disappeared" from the local scene a few years ago without explanation. Records show Candy-Wallace has been linked to civil tax fraud cases in the UK for two decades. One of his companies, described as a former "CD pressing business", was found to be "connected with fraud" as far back as 2006 in the form of invalid invoices. Another civil case dated back to 2005 when firms owned by Candy-Wallace were found to be linked to the "fraudulent evasion" of VAT by what the judge referred to as "the Malaga cell" of an illicit contra-trading network. WalesOnline's interest in his activities was first sparked last year when we investigated a network of "dormant companies" in Wales and England. There was little online to indicate what these firms actually did, beyond brief descriptions on Companies House such as "combined office administrative service activities" and "payroll services". One director, Damien Paton, was said to be a French national born in 1994. But elsewhere on Companies House his year of birth was given as 1960. In both records he was registered to a French address that was not a real place. Another of the directors was Candy-Wallace. One of the addresses used by the network was in Cranbrook Street, in Cardiff's student heartland of Cathays (Image: Conor Gogarty ) When we scanned through the many companies, a cluster of 12 stuck out. All were based at the same terraced house in Cranbrook Street in Cathays, the student heartland of Cardiff. It turned out the home was being used as a fake address for money-laundering. Landlord Nasser Nazemi told us the home started to be bombarded with letters from Companies House in 2017 after businesses had been registered there despite having no connection to the property. "The cheek of it," said Mr Nazemi. "We had to involve a solicitor to protect ourselves and it ended up costing us about £600 in legal fees." The firms in the money-laundering network were controlled by Candy-Wallace, according to the NCA, which said the "organised crime group" diverted away more than £50m of 'pay as you earn' and national insurance payments by "offering outsourcing services to third-party companies but then failing to pay the appropriate sums to HMRC". The funds were initially moved through a complex network of UK bank accounts before mostly ending up in Hong Kong and Taiwan accounts. Why wasn't he prosecuted? After last year's money-laundering settlement, we raised questions over the NCA's decision not to bring a criminal case against Candy-Wallace, particularly given that only a small portion of the £50m was recovered — on top of his decades-long links to tax fraud. As the NCA's own barrister James Laddie KC put it, the money-laundering ring was a 'deliberate and organised' fraud that featured 'inducements to secure clients'. Mr Laddie also said the settlement was a 'formal acknowledgement' that the funds were the proceeds of crime. Mr Justice Julian Knowles also described the funds in this way and said the network was part of "unlawful" payroll and money-laundering schemes. People are regularly imprisoned for fraud involving comparatively tiny sums of money. When we asked the NCA why it would not be bringing criminal proceedings, its spokeswoman said: "Civil recovery investigations are an efficient way to reclaim funds that have been acquired through unlawful conduct, and are not dependent on a criminal conviction." ‌ Jonathan Nuttall (Image: Press Association ) There was a criminal prosecution of one person involved in the network, but not for money-laundering. In 2023 one of Candy-Wallace's associates, Jonathan Nuttall, was jailed for eight years and two months after being found guilty of orchestrating a bomb plot against NCA lawyers. Nuttall had conspired to plant two explosives in London's legal district after becoming upset at the prospect of losing his stately home in Hampshire as assets were being seized in the civil case. The 51-year-old's wife, Amanda Nuttall — who once won £2.4m from her first lottery ticket — agreed to pay £1.4m and give up the stately home as part of the recent settlement. ‌ New Zealand Companies Office is now "assessing" Candy-Wallace's involvement in the Auckland firms. Its investigations team manager Vanessa Cook told us it is looking into whether his past conduct should disqualify him from directing or managing companies in New Zealand. Candy-Wallace and the Auckland companies were approached for comment. The only response we received was from a construction business whose email address was listed as a point of contact for one of Candy-Wallace's companies. The building firm said: "I don't know Mr Candy-Wallace, haven't had any dealings with him, and haven't seen him before." In the UK, registering sham addresses on Companies House has been a longstanding avenue for fraud. There is no requirement for those setting up a company to prove its legitimacy — and for those who actually live at the address, the fraud can ruin their credit rating due to the activity linked to their home. Article continues below The mass-registering of "burner companies" allows gangs to open UK bank accounts for money-laundering. However, later this year ID verification is finally due to become a requirement to start a company — after more than a decade of the system being abused — though experts have warned the scale of change needed will take time. If you know of a story we should be investigating, email us at

Daily Mirror

a day ago

• Daily Mirror

Bookkeeper's killer might never share darkest secret after umbrella clue emerges

The loved ones of murdered Suzanne Pilley remain in a state of 'limbo' without a body to lay to rest, while her callous killer, David Gilroy, appears intent on taking the location to his own grave, in what is believed to be a disturbing bid for 'power' Edinburgh bookkeeper Suzanne Pilley vanished on the morning of May 4, 2010, never to be seen again. And even though her killer has since been caught, her family have never been able to lay her to rest. After she failed to turn up for work after the bank holiday weekend, a move said to be out of character for the 38-year-old, Suzanne's worried parents, Sylvia and Rob, raised the alarm. An investigation ensued, leading police to the door of Suzanne's colleague and former lover, David Gilroy, who was arrested and charged with her murder. ‌ Gilroy, now 62, was convicted of Suzanne's murder by "unknown means" in 2012, with the High Court in Edinburgh hearing how the married father-of-two had become infuriated after she'd ended their"turbulent" relationship. ‌ Although he'd returned to his wife after the split, Gilroy continued to harass Suzanne, bombarding her with hundreds of messages and even tampering with her email. Then, he responded with unthinkable violence, slaughtering Suzanne in the basement garage of the office block where they'd worked together in the city centre. He then concealed her remains in an alcove while he fetched his car. Callous Gilroy proceeded with a number of seemingly ordinary appointments while her body was stuffed in the boot of his car. He even attended a school play and enjoyed a family dinner out. From this point on, what happened to Suzanne's body remains a mystery, and one that evil Gilroy appears intent on taking to his grave. It's believed that Suzanne's body was buried in a "lonely grave" in rural Argyll, with cold-hearted Gilroy having made the drive to the small, historic town of Lochgilphead Edinburgh CID's investigation focused on the Rest and Be Thankful and Argyll Forrest, where it is suspected Suzanne's body was abandoned. However, despite extensive searching, nothing has ever been found, and her family have been left without a grave to visit. ‌ Gilroy, who is currently serving a life sentence with a minimum of 18 years, continues to plead his innocence to this day, much to the heartache of her loved ones, who long for "a sense of closure". Speaking after Gilroy's conviction, Sylvia and Robert issued the following emotional statement: "Although the trial has ended, our ordeal goes on, and we hope that one day we can lay our daughter to rest." However, during a 2019 interview on the podcast Body of Proof, Gilroy made it clear that he wouldn't be giving up his secrets, declaring that he would "fight until [his] dying breath' to prove his innocence. The killer, who has previously lost freedom bids at Edinburgh's Court of Appeal and London's Supreme Court, claimed: 'I think I've been denied justice. I do believe that I have more than enough to prove my innocence beyond any doubt.' ‌ Although the evidence against Gilroy was entirely circumstantial, each strand resulted in a "compelling" case against him. From the dirt and vegetation on his tyres, to the scratches on his hands he'd tried to hide with make-up, jurors weren't taken in by Gilroy's lies. And there is one piece of evidence that proved particularly convincing. Officers tracked Gilroy's journey to Argyll through CCTV and spotted an umbrella on the parcel shelf in the car boot. During his return journey, the umbrella was no longer visible, and it's theorised that he placed the item in the boot once he'd disposed of Suzanne's remains. Explaining why Gilroy will likely never reveal where Suzanne's body lies, Nicole Nyamwiza, Senior Lecturer in Criminology at The University of Law, Nicole Nyamwiza, told The Sun: "Refusing to reveal the location of a body is a pattern we've seen in several high-profile cases. It's often about control. ‌ "Even after conviction, the offender can still dictate the terms of closure. In the case of David Gilroy, the continued silence keeps the family in a state of suspended grief, and that in itself is a form of harm. This is not unique. "Ian Simms, who was convicted of murdering Helen McCourt in 1988, never revealed where he left her body. That refusal went on for decades. Despite forensic evidence, despite a conviction, he held on to that final piece of power. ‌ "For some individuals, particularly those with controlling or narcissistic tendencies, keeping that information back is deliberate. It sustains attention, preserves denial, or simply continues the exercise of control." Having never given up hope of locating Suzanne's body, her brave family has continued to persevere all these years, even launching Suzanne's Law in her name to stop killers who refuse to disclose where a victim's body is located from being granted parole. Reflecting on this "important step", Nicole continued: "There is also a wider issue here about what justice really means. If someone can serve a sentence without ever disclosing what happened to a victim's remains, we have to question how we assess accountability or rehabilitation. ‌ "Proposals like Suzanne's Law are an important step. They recognise that justice involves more than time served. For many families, justice starts with being able to bring their loved one home." Back in May 2020, on the tenth anniversary of Suzanne's death, Police Scotland renewed its commitment to finding her body, issuing a fresh appeal for information. Detective Chief Superintendent Stuart Houston, from Police Scotland's Specialist Crime Division, said: "I am entirely confident that justice was served in terms of Suzanne's murder. However, it is deeply regrettable that, as of now, we have been unable to recover her body and bring a sense of closure to her family. ‌ "We will continue to revisit this investigation and conduct fresh search activity in the Argyll Forest area whenever we receive new information from the public. So, with that in mind, I'd urge anyone who believes they have any relevant information, but who hasn't yet spoken with police, to contact us immediately." "Sadly, Suzanne's father, Rob, passed away in February 2019 without ever knowing what happened to his daughter. We remain committed to finding these answers for Suzanne's mother, Sylvia and sister, Gail." ‌ Meanwhile, heartbroken sister Gail Fairgrieve, stated: "For the past decade we have lived in a state of limbo, waiting for the news that Suzanne's body had been found, but we've never been able to get that closure. "We accept that Suzanne was murdered and believe that the person responsible is in prison, but we feel we cannot say a proper goodbye until her body is found. "Both my mother and I want to again thank the public who have continued to contact the police, which has always given us hope that Suzanne has not been forgotten. We understand that only one person can tell us where Suzanne is, but has refused to do so. Police Scotland will respond to any information and are committed to bringing us some form of closure. "Their investigation can only conclude when Suzanne is found, and so I would plead with anyone who knows something but hasn't come forward to search their conscience and get in touch. Not for our sake, but for Suzanne's. Please let us give her the burial and send-off she deserves." Those with information are asked to contact Police Scotland via 101. Alternatively, an anonymous report can be made to the charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Glasgow Times

2 days ago

• Glasgow Times

Update on finance firm's case against Rangers in Court of Session

Lawyers for the 'Gers and Reputation Exchange PLC told judge Lord Sandison that they have reached an agreement in the action 'in principle.' The news emerged during proceedings at the Court of Session on Friday. It is the latest hearing in an action brought by Reputation Exchange PLC who are seeking to recover undisclosed but 'significant compensation' from the Glasgow club. The company, known as REPX, believes the 'Gers owe it money over an aborted agreement between the two sides. REPX says Rangers wanted it to develop a 'customised payment card' which would have allowed fans to buy products associated with it. However, the business claims that Rangers stopped the card from coming into operation. It says it was provided with legal advice from 'Scottish legal counsel' saying the club breached an agreement. The firm also claims that the alleged breach means it is entitled to compensation - it says that it invested a large amount of its own money into developing the card, and it should be compensated for the sum it spent. On Friday, Rangers' lawyer Timothy Young told Lord Sandison of the latest development in the case. READ NEXT: Man arrested after woman and four horses die in crash The court had earlier heard from REPX's advocate Ross Anderson, who said that the agreement between the two sides still needed to be finalised. Mr Young said: 'I would echo what Mr Anderson has said about parties having reached an agreement in principle, subject to entering into the settlement agreement. 'As my learned friend indicated - it's not so much that the agreement hasn't been reached. It's simply that implementation of that agreement will take some time. According to REPX's website, the firm describes itself as being a 'fintech company' that is 'disrupting' traditional banking. It states: 'REPX is creating for celebrities, influencers, sport teams, brands, iconic cities, the opportunity to monetise their fan base with unique co-branded prepaid cards, debit cards, and patented digital products catered to their loyal legions of followers and fans' It started working with Rangers to design a prepaid card after making similar products for Italian sides AC Milan and Torino. In the firm's strategic report for the year ending December 31 2023, the company talks of initiating a legal action against a football club which it doesn't name. READ NEXT: CCTV released of man in football top after Glasgow train incident The report states: 'The company initiated legal action against a football club to recover the advance paid to acquire the right to issue branded prepaid cards, as well as to recover the loss of profit and/or cost of investments made to develop an app customised to the wishes of the club itself. 'Below are some key extracts from the letter sent by our lawyers to the other side, anticipating that proceedings will be commenced against the football club without further delay should it not be possible to resolve the claims in the early course. "Our Client has also had the benefit of advice from senior counsel on Clause 12 of the contract.'Our Client (REPX) has suffered significant losses as a result of your client's breaches of contract. Our Client maintains claims against Your Client under the following heads.' It states the failed scheme created losses of £1.5million on top of £500,000 in 'aborted costs', including design work. They say this is on top of further £120,000 in cash they had paid the club as part of an agreement to launch the card in August 2023 before the plan was shelved. Bosses are also claiming a further £20,000 for 'costs and wasted management time'. In a letter sent to the council of the Cyprus Stock Exchange on December 27 2024, REPX directors state that 'the company has started a costly lawsuit against the Scottish club Rangers FC, who had a customised payment card created to their specifications.' READ NEXT: Glasgow firms named and shamed for 'deliberate' unpaid tax It further states: 'REPX invested several hundred thousand GBP in technology and one year of development) and then effectively blocked the issuance of the card on instrumental grounds that even the Scottish Legal Counsel (which carries significant weight in Scotland), who provided us with the prior legal advice to start the legal process, dismissed as unfounded. 'In fact, the Scottish Legal Counsel invited us to assert our right to a substantial refund of the amount invested on the basis of the Scottish club's claims. we "We believe we should be entitled to receive significant compensation.' On Friday, Mr Anderson said: 'The parties have reached a commercial settlement.' Lord Sandison expressed concern about the state of the settlement agreement. He said that he wasn't content to end the action at the close of Friday's hearing because of the lack of detail provided to the court. He said that unless parties could finalise the details of the agreement, they would be expected to come to court to participate in a proof - the Scottish legal term used to describe the main hearing in civil cases - next month. Lord Sandison told the two advocates: 'I'm not asking you in any way to disclose the terms of the settlement agreement. 'But let us hypothesise that it might be that one party is going to pay some money to the other party. 'What's going to happen to the agreement - I pose this question rhetorically - if that money is not paid on the day that it is supposed to be paid? 'Is there a settlement or is there not? If there is, then there is no need to postpone the disposal of this action until implemented because you have got a binding agreement - which you can just come right back to court and say 'here's a binding agreement: it hasn't been performed, we want it to be performed.' 'I can assure you that in sort of situation the court rapidly expedites the disposal of such actions.' READ NEXT: Man dies on Scottish beach in Saltcoats after 'taking unwell' Lord Sandison also said that if the matter is settled today, then the dates allocated by the court to the two sides could have been allocated to another party who is taking legal action. He added: 'I think it's very common knowledge that I don't discharge diets - substantive diets - on the promise of a settlement one day.' He urged the two sides to finalise the agreement. He added: 'I've hoped I've made it perfectly clear. I can't imagine that I haven't. Either this action settles before the start of the proof diet, or it proceeds on the proof diet - loud and clear?' The proof is scheduled to be heard at the Court of Session between July 8 and July 11 2025.