Daily Mail
· collected 2026-10-04 · by Richard Marsden, Dominik Lemanski
Crime-fighting officials have now clawed back £1.8million from a fugitive underworld fixer -by selling his home, a valuable painting and gold bars.
asserted
officials → fight → home
Money launderer Lenn Mayhew-Lewis, 71 - whose company accounts were listed in the infamous Panama Papers data leak and who has been on the run since March 2023 and is believed to be in Africa - has been targeted under proceeds of crime powers.
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who → list → powers
The biggest sum raised so far has come from the recent sale of his six-bedroom home in leafy Oxted, Surrey, for £766,000.
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sum → raise → 766,000
Separately, a painting by celebrated artist Frank Auerbach, seized by the National Crime Agency, was earlier auctioned on 14 November 2024, fetching £620,000.
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painting → seize → 620,000
NCA officers seized Auerbach's 'Albert Street, 2009' after identifying that money launderer Mayhew-Lewis had purchased the artwork in 2017 as a means of 'cleaning' criminal cash.
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Lewis → seize → cash
Many thousands of pounds more has been raised by the sale of nearly 18lbs (8kg) of gold bars and shavings found in a Bentley car belonging to Jamaican-born Lenn Mayhew-Lewis when he was arrested in 2019.
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he → raise → 2019
The gold haul raised another £469,000.
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haul → raise → 469,000
Albert Street was part of Auerbach's long-running series of paintings depicting an area of Camden Town, north London, where he was based for many decades.
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he → run → decades
The artist, born in Berlin 1931 to Jewish parents and came to Britain as a child refugee fleeing the Nazis, was still adding to the series as late as 2017.
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artist → bear → 2017
He died in 2024, aged 93.
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He → die → 2024
Lenn Mayhew-Lewis, 71, is on the run after being sentenced to five years' imprisonment
Mayhew-Lewis was listed in the infamous Panama Papers at his home in Oxted, pictured
Such was the scale of Mayhew-Lewis's operations that he was named in the 'Panama Papers' – the world's largest data leak of 11.5 million documents in April 2016 from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca relating to offshore accounts used to hide assets, evade taxes and launder money.
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he → sentence → money
Details from the disclosures posted online show 'Lenn Mayhew-Lewis' listed at his home in Oxted, Surrey, as a shareholder of a now-dissolved Bahamian company.
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Lewis → post → company
The scandal revealed the business dealings of a dozen current or former world leaders, 128 other politicians and public officials, and hundreds of celebrities, sports stars, businessmen and billionaires from more than 200 countries.
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scandal → reveal → countries
Sources at the Crown Prosecution Service confirmed money clawed back from Mayhew-Lewis was 'recovered by us from restrained assets held by the NCA' and was not handed over 'voluntarily' by the fugitive criminal.
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money → confirm → criminal
The NCA described money launderer Mayhew-Lewis as someone who offered 'services that helped criminals blur the origins of their cash by using multiple companies to filter payments'.
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criminals → describe → payments
Separately, a source close to the case said: 'His neighbours thought he was a successful businessman.
'
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he → say → case
He tried to sell his Oxted home using Purple Bricks – the fixed fee agent – which is unusual for this part of Surrey.
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which → try → Surrey
He had a large piano in his house and told anyone that came to view the property that he worked as a music producer and was getting divorced, hence the need for a quick sale.
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he → have → sale
He even had music from old school musicals playing in the background on television as the agent showed potential buyers around his home.'
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agent → have → home
Mayhew-Lewis was arrested in 2020 but absconded while on bail.
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Lewis → arrest → bail
He was sentenced in his absence to five years in jail for money laundering and is now believed to be hiding out abroad after he was recorded talking to an associate about bribing officials in Africa.
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he → sentence → Africa
The criminal fixer received an additional nine-month sentence for perverting the course of justice by operating a scheme that helped criminals to evade speeding offences.
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criminals → receive → offences
The NCA said of his activities: 'He offered services that helped criminals blur the origins of their cash by using multiple companies to filter payments, and eventually pay them an income that would appear legitimate to outsiders.
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that → say → outsiders
'Cash was moved across a network of bank accounts, with a fee taken in the process.
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fee → move → process
On some occasions, Lenn Mayhew-Lewis used companies registered overseas and operated them under the guise of investment platforms.
'
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Lewis → use → platforms
Emails and phone messages analysed by NCA officers showed he could produce fake documents such as investment records and bank statements to make payments appear more plausible.
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payments → analyse → records
On at least one occasion he also helped a client purchase a company that was used to fraudulently obtain a bounce back loan.'
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that → help → loan
Customers using his services included the Tawiah organised crime group.
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Customers → use → group
Frank Auerbach's painting 'Albert Street' (centre) is auctioned at Sotheby's, on behalf of the National Crime Agency, where it sold for £620,000
Picture obtained by National Crime Agency shows Mayhew-Lewis (face partially cut off) smiling as he holds gold bars believed to have been obtained from criminal contacts
The gang's leader, Darryl Tawiah, 46, from Southwark, south London, was already serving 18 years in jail when he was sentenced to a further 25 years in 2022 for running the organisation from behind bars.
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he → auction → bars
Tawiah gave instructions to couriers from prison to deposit cash into bank accounts for companies where Mayhew-Lewis or his associates were listed as directors.
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Lewis → give → directors
David Spencer, Head of Crime and Justice at the Policy Exchange think tank and a former Detective Chief Inspector, said: 'The National Crime Agency deserve credit for their pursuit of this criminal's assets.
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Agency → say → assets
The wider question for the Government is: how will Ministers ensure that the changes announced in the police reform White Paper make these sorts of cases - where criminals' ill-gotten gains are successfully pursued - far more common.'
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gains → ensure → cases
Overall seizures from criminals under the Proceeds of Crime Act have averaged around £152m a year in the last six years.
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seizures → average → years
The total of Mayhew-Lewis's repayment is larger than sums paid by notorious criminals including the gang responsible for the 2015 Hatton Garden heist.
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total → pay → heist
According to figures last year, the largest Proceeds of Crime Act payment by so-called 'Diamond Wheezers' gang was £1.34m returned by lookout John 'Kenny Collins, now 85.
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payment → accord → Collins
Some others had only repaid £8,000.
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others → repay → 8,000
Olivia Rose of the Crown Prosecution Service's Proceeds of Crime Division said: 'Lenn Mayhew-Lewis helped criminals hide their money.
'
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criminals → say → money
The CPS Proceeds of Crime Division has recovered more than £766,000 towards payment of the Confiscation Order made against him by the Crown Court at Southwark which has now been paid in full.
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which → recover → Southwark
'Instead of financing criminals, the money will now go towards helping fight organised crime and ensuring that others cannot benefit from their ill-gotten gains.'
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others → finance → gains
The Aporia
