Police show crime does not pay with Johnson A-board

Notorious Wolverhampton brothers Carl and Tony Johnson are today starting almost three years in jail for their part in a £34 million tax fraud.

The brothers laundered money as part of a con that involved swindling cash owed to the taxman in a payroll fiddle.

And, in a first for West Midlands Police, officers today hammered home the message that "crime doesn't pay" by plastering a 10ft-high A-truck with photographs of the brothers and driving it around Wolverhampton.

The pair, along with the tax con kingpin Thomas Scragg, flaunted their wealth on the streets of Wolverhampton, driving around in expensive cars worth hundreds of thousands of pounds including a Lamborghini Murcielago, Bentley Continental, Porsche Cayenne and Ferrari Spider.

The Johnson brothers, who have a string of convictions for violence and witness intimidation, were paid around £2.4m by Scragg. They kitted out their homes with security equipment while 49-year-old Carl had bulletproof glass installed in his Bushbury Road home. Tony, aged 51, rebuilt his house on Sandy Lane, Tettenhall, with a cinema.

The message on the police's A-framed truck is in direct response to a moment that Carl, standing next to two Bentleys, turned to police and shouted: "Have a look, have a look. Crime does pay."

At Birmingham Crown Court yesterday, the brothers were each jailed for two years and nine months. A jury had earlier found the pair guilty of money laundering.

In total, 13 people have been found guilty for their part in the huge con. During the inquiry, police took more than 1,100 statements which helped form part of 3.4 million pages of documentation submitted during the trial.

See also:

• Notorious Johnson brothers jailed in £34m tax fraud