The Birmingham team leading the fight against illegal loan sharks

Illegal money lending is thought to be one of the oldest practices but up until 15 years ago little was known about the scale of the problem in England.

Loan sharks target vulnerable individuals and communities and charge exorbitant rates of interest. They typically use fear and intimidation to recoup "owed" amounts but can also resort to violence or even demand sexual favours.

Their prey, who often just need a small sum in the beginning to pay for everyday expenses, gradually become buried under an impossible pile of debt and in the most extreme cases contemplate taking their own life.

But the fightback began in 2004 when the Government set up a project to tackle the dark form of exploitation, initially with a team in Birmingham and another in Glasgow.

It was only commissioned for two years, but was extended year-on-year due to high-profile successful prosecutions.

£4 million budget

Today, a decade-and-a-half on, a Birmingham team which had seven staff in the beginning is now the fully-fledged England Illegal Money Lending Team (IMLT) which current employees 52 people and is funded by the Treasury with a budget of £4 million.

The IMLT has carried out 394 prosecutions for illegal money lending as well as associated offences such as blackmail, kidnapping, rape, wounding and assault.

Among the many successful convictions was Paul Stretch who ran a nine-year racket in Devon until he was snared under Operation Hiking and jailed for two years and three months in 2018.

Officers found more than £5,000 in a safe as well as loan books stashed in one of his properties.

But the 59-year-old from Newton Abbot was hauled before a court again in April and his sentence was extended when investigators found his wife Mandy Stretch, age 48, had carried on his business, collecting debts and making new loans. She received a suspended jail term.

Tony Quigley, head of the IMLT, said loan sharks "start out being friendly" but their "behaviour changes" when repayments are missed. It is at that point when they can become threatening and violent.

They typically provide little or no paperwork, increase the debt or add additional sums, and refuse to tell the borrower the interest rate or how much they owe.

Four million per cent APR

The team has come across some APRs (annual percentage rate) of more than four million per cent.

Research in 2010 revealed that around 310,000 households across the UK were indebted to loan sharks. On average victims borrowed £350 and were forced to pay back double.

A victim profile shows that borrowers are just as likely to be women as they are men while a large proportion are parents with two children.

Using a recent pool of victims the team has also broken down the main reasons which cause them to turn to loan sharks with the main factor being household bills and everyday expenses.

Mr Quigley said that one of the biggest problems with tackling loan sharks was the understandable reluctance of victims to come forward.

He added: "A lot of people feel ashamed they have got themselves into that trouble. From our perspective we just want people to have the courage to give us a call."

Money recouped from the assets of convicted loan sharks through the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) has been reinvested in scores of schemes and projects to support victims such as credit unions as well as initiatives which help raise awareness of the dangers of loan sharks.

One example was the £5,000 granted to the Northfield Partnership in south Birmingham to host a beach-themed day called 'No Sharks at the Beach'.

While the team has also funded the production of learning materials used in 5,000 schools across England.

The IMLT was lauded with praise by Birmingham City Council's Licensing and Public Protection committee earlier this month when a report and presentation laid bare its impact.

Visit www.stoploansharks.co.uk for more information and call 0300 555 2222 to report a loan shark to the Illegal Money Lending Team and receive confidential help.