Loan shark who made £14,000 avoids jail

Lee Bates, 37, of Cottingham Road, Hull, had been working for a legitimate loan company, Credit Hull, but took its borrowers’ details with him when he left and offered them unlicensed loans.

Hull Crown Court heard Bates charged interest of as much as 80 per cent for a £1,000 loan, but was able to attract customers because his rates were often better than those charged by legitimate businesses.

He was arrested following a complaint to trading standards and a raid on his home revealed a number of loan books, 56 separate credit agreements, and records to show he was owed £20,000 in outstanding loans.

In total, investigators found he had earned at least £14,355 from his illegal activities between August 4, 2010, and October 25 last year.

Judge James Sampson said he had been engaged in “unregulated exploitation”, but took into account his previous good character and the fact he had not used coercion or intimidation in collecting his money in sentencing him to a community order.

Bates, who pleaded guilty to illegal money lending and money laundering at an earlier hearing, declined to comment as he walked free from court, but one of his victims, who did not want to be identified, said she had no idea how much he had taken from her family.

The 50-year-old, who is unemployed and on benefits, said: “If you’re really short, you need a loan to help you out.

“My husband and I would pay Lee back and then we’d get the next loan. That’s the way we did it. Obviously at the end, when trading standards got involved, we realised how much he was putting on top of what we owed him.

“But I can’t put my finger on how much money he conned out of us. Between the three of us he would have probably got a nice, tidy sum.”