Image released of loan shark pensioner who ran illegal money lending operation in Staffordshire

The England Illegal Money Lending Team (IMLT) has released an image of Robert Norman Phillips, 75, who has been sentenced to two years and eight months in prison.

Phillips, of Creswell Farm Drive, Stafford, lent more than £370,000 over the course of 16 years and took repayments of more than £570,000, charging either 60 per cent or 70 per cent interest.

He appeared before Stafford Crown Court on Friday where he admitted two charges of money lending between November 2006 and November 2022 as well as a charge of concealing the proceedings of his crime.

Phillips was sentenced to 10 months for each of the money lending offences and 32 months for the third offence, all to run concurrently.

The court heard many of his victims were women who said he made repeated lewd and inappropriate comments when he collected cash and even suggested "payment in kind" if they were struggling to pay.

The case was prosecuted by the England IMLT in partnership with Staffordshire County Council Trading Standards and Staffordshire Police.

Mr Simon Mortimer, prosecuting, said a report was made to the lending team hotline in March 2022 alleging that Phillips was operating an unlicensed money lending business.

In November 2022, investigators from the IMLT and Staffordshire Police officers executed a warrant at his address where they discovered items related to a loans business.

Investigators found that between November 6, 2006, and November 2022, Phillips had issued at least 966 loans to 147 different borrowers.

Passing sentence, recorder James Bide-Thomas said he had taken into account Phillips’ age, his previous good character and the fact that he suffered for a number of health problems.

He also said he had taken into consideration the fact that Phillips was the sole carer for his wife who was also in poor health.

However he said the offences were so serious that there was no way he could not impose a custodial sentence.