‘Acid House King’ Tony Colston-Hayter sentenced for £1.25m cyber scam at Swiss Cottage Barclays
Tony Colston-Hayter photographed in 1989. Picture: Alex Lentati/REX - Credit: Alex Lentati/Associated News/REX
The leader of a cyber gang which plundered £1.25 million from British banks has been jailed for five and a half years.
Other members of the group were also handed substantial prison terms at Southwark Crown Court for their roles in the audacious fraud on Thursday (April 24).
Tony Colston-Hayter, 48, who was once nicknamed the “Acid House King” for staging controversial outdoor raves in the late 1980s, led the gang which hijacked computers at Barclays in Finchley Road, Swiss Cottage, to siphon off funds.
Colston-Hayter had earlier pleaded guilty to masterminding the fraud while others also admitted their part in the scam and some were found guilty.
An “Aladdin’s Cave” of documents and equipment for fraud had been discovered at his flat in Seymour Street, Marble Arch.
You may also want to watch:
Judge Juliet May QC told him: “There is no doubt in my mind that you played a key operational role in taking forward and implementing these plans.”
Most Read
- 1 Muswell Hill man captures picture of car bursting into flames in high street
- 2 West Hampstead mum Nazanin 'loses appeal' in Iran
- 3 'Forever grateful': Community steps up after man's dog dies on Hampstead Heath
- 4 Coldplay and Ed Sheeran to perform at Earthshot Prize ceremony at Ally Pally
- 5 Charles de Gaulle's old Hampstead home on sale for £15m
- 6 Primrose Hill 'Howloween' party to support rescue dogs
- 7 Tributes paid to Primrose Hill mother-of-four as fundraiser launched
- 8 Man charged with murder of Nicole Hurley in Primrose Hill
- 9 Murder arrest after Primrose Hill woman dies from stab wounds
- 10 Muswell Hill couple slam planning laws as chipboard outhouse appears
