Family of thieves from Haringey send £20,000 to Bulgaria

The six Harringay residents claimed to be unemployed or working in low-paid jobs such as cleaning and car washing but were living life well beyond their alleged means.

A search of their home, in Warham Road, in November and December 2009 revealed piles of cash in different currencies stashed around the house.

The British Transport Police (BTP) began investigating the family, who were known pickpockets, following suspicions they were involved in a scam using stolen and clones credit cards to buy car insurance.

It later emerged the family had also been transferring thousands of pounds to Bulgaria which were probably the proceeds of crime.

Detective Constable Jerry Meek, from BTP’s organised crime team, said: "The amounts of money being sent to Bulgaria didn’t marry up to low level of income the family members earned from jobs such as cleaning and car washing.

"Georgi Petkov alone had sent over £7500 to Bulgaria between September 2008 and November 2009 yet in interview claimed to have only worked for a few days in that time and only earned £15 a day."

His wife, Elena Filipova, twice convicted of pickpocketing, had sent over £1100 to Bulgaria in that time despite having no legitimate income.

"These six people are part of an organised group who steal and send the profits back to Bulgaria," added DC Meek.

"They were living far beyond their means and couldn’t account for the large sums of money they were transferring home."

Sisters Elena Filipova, 23, and Sylviya Filipova, 24, pleaded guilty to money laundering and will serve nine months each.

Their husbands, Georgi Petkov, 18, and Georgi Nikolov, 23, pleaded guilty to the same charge and will serve one year each.

Nikolov's brother, Zlato Nikolov, 18, will serve 18 nine months. The last defendant Nedka Staneva , 20, will serve six months imprisonment.

All defendants will be deported after serving their sentences.

They appeared at Southwark Crown Court on Tuesday, May 4.