Unexplained wealth order sees £1.1m seized from fraudster tim schools’ ex-wife
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has secured £1.1m from the sale of a luxury Lake District property once owned by the ex-wife of disgraced solicitor Tim Schools, marking its first successful use of an unexplained wealth order (UWO).
The property, Hope Springs House in Penrith, included a main residence and a two-bedroom lodge with sweeping views of the Lakeland Fells. It was bought and lavishly renovated using money traced back to Schools’ vast fraud through the Axiom Legal Financing Fund.
The fund, launched in 2008, was designed to bankroll law firms by lending money for litigation disbursements, mainly in personal injury cases. Promoted as a safe investment with a high chance of returns, it collapsed in 2012 amid allegations of fraud. By the time receivers were called in the following February, the Cayman Islands-based venture owed investors about £120m.
The SFO found that instead of financing solid claims, Schools funnelled investor money into thousands of high-risk, unvetted cases, many of which failed. Few investors saw a penny back. More than 500 individuals were left out of pocket.
Embed from Getty ImagesSchools, struck off as a solicitor in 2014, was eventually jailed for 14 years in 2022 for fraud. A confiscation hearing earlier this year determined that his benefit from criminal conduct totalled more than £146m. However, the available recoverable amount was judged to be just £1.1m, largely in assets transferred to family members.
That included the Lake District home of his ex-wife Claire Schools, whom he married in 2011. Although a decree nisi was issued in 2016, the divorce was not finalised until 2020. During that time, and even after, the SFO argued the pair remained close.
Evidence showed they lived together at Hope Springs House until his conviction and continued daily contact while he served his sentence. Prison records listed Ms Schools as his next of kin, common law wife and partner.
It was not alleged that she participated in his crimes. But her financial record raised serious questions. Aside from £230,000 in dividends in 2009/10 and 2010/11, she declared “minimal income” in subsequent years. Yet in 2018, she bought Hope Springs House for £430,000, primarily using proceeds from the sale of a French chalet originally purchased with funds from companies central to the Axiom fraud.
She then spent a further £740,000 on renovations, bringing the property’s value to £1.8m. Investigators said one of the key aims of the UWO was to determine how she could afford such substantial expenditure.
Mr Justice Pepperall granted the unexplained wealth order earlier this year, with reasons published in May. The property has since been sold, and the £1.1m recovered will be transferred to the public purse.
Nick Ephgrave, director of the SFO, declared: “We will use all the tools at our disposal to recover proceeds of crime from those associates and family members who seek to benefit from the criminal activity of others. Unexplained wealth orders offer investigative opportunities to pursue assets on behalf of victims and taxpayers. This is our first successful use of this legislation and it certainly won’t be the last.”
Solicitor General Ellie Reeves welcomed the ruling, adding: “I welcome the SFO’s successful recovery of more than £1m from a convicted fraudster – one of the first law enforcement bodies to use such powers. This is money that will go straight back to the public purse and deny a prolific fraudster’s family benefiting from his criminal activities.”
The SFO confirmed its broader investigation into Schools’ assets remains ongoing, with the next hearing scheduled for 26 September at City of London Magistrates’ Court.
For hundreds of victims who lost fortunes to Axiom, the £1.1m recovery is a modest sum against colossal losses — but it sets a precedent for how law enforcement intends to pursue tainted wealth linked to Britain’s most notorious legal fraudster