Darius Guppy

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Darius Guppy was convicted of defrauding Lloyd's of London insurance market of £1.8 million in the early 1990s, together with firearms offences relating to a robbery of gemstones in New York City, as well as VAT offences in connection with a gold smuggling operation between the UK and India.

[edit] Biography

Guppy is the grandson of an Iranian ayatollah and Iran's foremost philosopher on his mother's side. On his father's side he comes from a distinguished family of colonialists in the British West Indies.

He was educated at Eton College and Magdalen College, Oxford where he got a first class degree in History and French. In his second year, he became a member of the notorious Piers Gaveston Society, as well as the Bullingdon Club [1]. He was the best man at Earl Spencer's wedding to model Victoria Lockwood and Earl Spencer was also his best man. He was a close friend of the Conservative MP Boris Johnson as well as Count Gottfried von Bismarck.

Shortly after the robbery in NYC, but before his arrest, Guppy was recorded telephoning Johnson and asking him for the address of a News of the World journalist who had reported on Earl Spencer's private life. Guppy had wished to retaliate by assaulting the reporter. On the tape, Johnson agreed to help after being reassured that the reporter would not be seriously injured. The tape transcript was serialised in The Guardian's diary column, which thereafter took to referring to Johnson as The Jackal.

Although there are unsubstantiated rumours of ties to Irish Republicans and Islamic groups, he retains a low profile. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, he resided at Garranlea House, New Inn (Ireland). He is currently thought to be residing in South Africa and/or the Middle East.

In May 2006 it is has been alleged that Guppy gave his former friend, the Earl Spencer, a beating having lured him to his home in Cape Town, South Africa. Guppy is said to have become incensed upon learning that Spencer had repeatedly attempted to seduce Guppy's beautiful wife, Patricia, a former model, while she was living in a cottage on his estate at the time of Guppy's incarceration (source: "the revenge of deadly Darius", Daily Mail, August 19, 2006).

In the same article Guppy is described by his friend, Shadow Cabinet Minister, Boris Johnson, as living "[b]y the Homeric code of honour, loyalty and revenge" is understood to have flown into Cape Town from Europe specifically to confront Spencer over his alleged betrayal and to have given his former friend a black eye, concussion and broken cheekbone. Spencer was saved from further punishment only after the intervention of his former wife's husband who was present at the scene.

Guppy is known to be an enthusiast of martial arts and of what are known as "dangerous sports".

[edit] Lloyd's fraud

Guppy was convicted of having staged a jewellery robbery in New York and subsequently claimed for the insurance on the gemstones he (falsely) said had been stolen. Lloyd's paid out in record time, suggesting that fraud was not suspected. He was betrayed a year later by a registered police informer who was caught attempting his own sting. He was sentenced to prison for five years.

The trial judge and prosecution described the heist as an "audacious and meticulously planned operation". It took four years to convict Guppy. According to one police officer in New York City who investigated the heist in a documentary about the affair, the principal evidence was that of a petty criminal and police informer. (See "Behind the Crime, Fakers, Channel 4, broadcast Feb 2000). No gemstones were ever recovered.