Newport criminal goods auction raises £150,000

Dozens of items seized from convicted criminals, including a Ferrari and a house in France, have been sold for a total of £150,000 at an auction.

The luxury goods, worth more than £2.3m, were sold with no reserve at Wilsons Auctions in Newport.

The highest selling items were a house in Grimsby, which raised £34,000 and a Ferrari 360 Modena, linked to drug offences in Malta, which made £33,000.

Aidan Larkin, of Wilsons Auctions, said the goods had "a new lease of life".

The auction took place in Newport on 14 August, with an online auction finishing on Tuesday.

Alongside the house and the Ferrari, other high-selling items were a rose gold Rolex Daytona, which sold for £20,000 in the online auction and a French property called La Limousiniere in La Chataigneraie, which met its guide price of £20,000.

Many of the items sold were seized by Gloucestershire Constabulary, which will receive £33,000 from the auction.

Aidan Larkin, asset recovery director for Wilsons Auctions, said: "This is a great result which allows us to give these criminal's seized assets a new lease of life.

"The interesting back story captured the attention of the media which resulted in worldwide coverage and registrations from worldwide bidders."