Welsh bang up 419er for 20 months
By Lester Haines
Published Monday 5th April 2004 09:38 GMT
A 33-year-old Nigerian has the dubious honour of being the first advance fee fraudster to be jailed in north Wales for the offence of “going equipped to cheat”.
Caernarfon Crown Court handed Peter Okoeguale a 20-month sentence for scammming various individuals - including a Scot who he took for £20,000 and a retired US businessman whose wallet is $46,500 lighter as a result of Okoeguale’s activities.
Police slapped the cuffs on Okoeguale as he attempted to board a ferry from Holyhead in Wales to the Irish Republic. He was carrying discs containing the email addresses and telephone numbers of thousands of people worldwide, as well as forged documents. One of these was headed “Nigerian Police Force Contract Investigation Section”.
Judge John Rogers QC told the 419er: “You had in your possession a substantial amount of equipment and carefully drafted fraudulent documents with the intention that they should be used to fool gullible people not only in this country but wherever you chose to communicate with them. This is international fraud. Only a period of imprisonment is appropriate.”
Judge Rogers also recommended that Okoeguale be deported at the end of his sentence, noting: “In addition I’m quite satisfied that given the gravity of this offence it’s detrimental to the welfare of the UK that you should remain here.”
Re: the title of this thread. It took me a few seconds to understand the term “sent down”. I am assuming that it is used to say that he has been sent to prison. Here on the left side of the Atlantic Ocean would most likely say “sent up” to imply the same. This is an interresting quirk of the language of the type that I find fascinating.
Mike
I say they line up all the people who he stold money from, and let each person give him one swift kick in his wedding tackle that will keep people from doing this sort of thing again
And, you’ll likely have noted that “banged up” and “sent down” have the same meaning, but being “knocked up” is quite a different matter from being “knocked down”!
I think most Americans would interpret “banged up” as equivalent to “knocked up”. At least I would, but I am a middle-aged, middle class white male so what do I know.
Mike
Huh. I’m a middle class white American and the only way my brain could parse “banged up” is as “one’s condition after a non-fatal car crash”, or some such.
A far cry from being pregnant.
Unless you meant the British version of “knocked up”, which is a sort of wake-up call, I understand.
Knocked down = run over (or price reduced via haggling)
To confuse matters even more, there’s such a thing as a “knocking-shop”, in which one might reasonably expect to find at least one pair of knockers. But you wouldn’t want to knock them up. For a wake-up call, one might ask the nice old lady who runs the knocking-shop to give you a knock at a certain hour (“Give us a knock at half seven?”), but you definitely wouldn’t ask her to knock you up.
There are also “knockers”, who are a breed of villain whose stock in trade is distraction theft and/or deception; they’ll knock on your door, keep you busy while an accomplice nips in the back and does your gaff over. Or they’ll con their way into your house, or do a verbal Nigerian Email Scam (usually something about tarmacking your drive cheap).
You can be “Knocked sideways” too, which is pretty much the same as being “knocked over with a feather”, but neither is as dramatic nor injurious as being “knocked out”, a term which I believe is common to both sides of the Atlantic.
Of course, one can go out with one’s mates for a “knock-about”, a game (usually footy, but also others eg cricket, rounders, tennis) played for fun without formality and usually in a park or on wasteland (eg. Romford). But to be “knocked about” is not a very good thing at all (“I ‘eard that Bill got banged up for knocking his missus about, her being knocked up an’ all, disgraceful!”).
I suspect the Nigerian chappy will soon come to understand a few of these terms.
“does your gaff over”? What the heck is that? I can tell by context, I suppose, but otherwise that is complete Swahili to me.
And can anyone explain what the British mean by “kit”
As in “We hope he sells a lot of kit”
When I’d read it before I assumed it meant equipment, but it seems to be more general than that.
To add to the confusion,A Stripper would get her kit off and flash her knockers for the lads.
Afterwards She might have a quick scoop and leg it to the next Gig.
that will keep people from doing this sort of thing again 
