On 29th April 2014, Westminster Magistrates’ Court refused an application made on behalf of the Serious Fraud Office to activate a default term of imprisonment of six years in the case of Terence Shepherd. Mr. Shepherd is yet to satisfy a £1.25m confiscation order following his conviction in 2011 in respect of a £5m fraud where tickets to major events, including the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, were sold but never delivered. Victims of the fraud included the parents of British swimmer Rebecca Adlington OBE, who missed their daughter’s gold medal win in the 2008 Olympics 400m freestyle as a result.

John Warrington, instructed by Blackfords LLP, successfully resisted the SFO’s application on behalf of Mr. Shepherd.