Police seized material from the home of the Defendant, Mr D, that included:

• A device for reading the magnetic stripe on plastic cards.
• A device for reading and writing the memory chip on modern plastic cards.
• A list of credit card numbers written by the Defendant.
• £50,000 in cash.
• New and boxed watches valued at about £50,000.
• Laptop computer with software to operate card reading devices.
• Floppy disks containing files of credit card numbers.
• Floppy disks containing software for operating card reading devices.
• Invoices and other documents detailing the purchase of plastic card printing equipment.
• Used foil from the manufacture of credit cards with card numbers visible in the foil.

Mr D admitted to most of the seized material with explanations that included:

• Mr D's hobby was to collect watches.
• Mr D was holding the cash for associates to enable a prompt response to business opportunities.
• Mr D bought and sold equipment for making credit cards but could not say who his customers were.
• Mr D said that the foil and the diskettes were planted before the raid on his house.

A computer specialist, Mr E, had inspected the computer equipment and produced a report.

I had numerous conversations with Mr D's solicitor, Mr S, and and we were quite unable to find anything useful that I (or anyone else!) could do to assist the defence.

My only written work in this case was a letter summarising the reasons why I could see nothing that I could usefully do.  The letter is here...