'Medal factory' fraudster ordered to repay £50,000

A man who sold fake military medals and poppy pin badges has been ordered to repay more than £50,000 he made from the scam.

Henry Lyttel, of Ashbourne Road in Mackworth, Derbyshire, bought medal collections at auctions and forged the missing medals, using equipment, kept in a "medal factory" in his shed, to inflate the value.

His company, Croft Militaria, also sold poppy badges in breach of a Royal British Legion (RBL) trademark.

The 33-year-old appeared at Derby Crown Court for a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing on Wednesday.

Investigators estimated that Lyttel’s business made more than £72,000 from the fake medals and £10,000 from the poppy badges, with no contribution to the charity.

The counterfeit medals included fake Distinguished Flying Crosses and Air Force Crosses.

Lyttel admitted fraudulent trading and trademark infringement when he was prosecuted at the same court by Derbyshire County Council's Trading Standards team in June 2020.

He received a two-year sentence, suspended for 18 months, was ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work and disqualified from acting as a director of a company for five years.

A confiscation order was made to get the money back but at the time Lyttel was only able to repay £2,000, the council said.

However, the authority said further investigations, in June this year, found he had more than £50,000 available so it applied for the order to be revised.

Under the new order, Lyttel will have to pay £10,000 to the RBL to compensate the charity for lost income as a result of his fake poppy badge sales.

The court said Lyttel was told he faces a 12-month jail term if he does not pay £50,488 within three months.

Military historian and medal expert Mark Smith, who joined police and trading standards in a raid on Lyttel's home , said: "At the time I was amazed to find what could only be described as a medal factory.

"A shed in the garden contained hundreds of faked medals, cap badges, shoulder titles and helmet plates.

"It was an incredible array of exceptional quality fakes, covering many regiments and units from all ages - literally hundreds of them."

Carol Hart, the council's cabinet member for health and communities, said Lyttel's crime was "truly despicable".

A spokesperson for the RBL said the charity would "take every step to defend the poppy from misappropriation, taking legal action where necessary".

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