Met Accused Of Using Honey-Trap To 'Create Crime'

Police have been accused of using a covert pawnshop as a “honey-trap” to lure young people to commit crimes.

More than 100 people are believed to have been convicted, many for illegally trading passports and driving licences, at the covert Scotland Yard store in Cricklewood, north London.

However lawyers have condemned the ploy, claiming it may have encouraged young people to commit offences by giving the impression that they could make easy money by trading ID documents at the shop.

It is believed that up to half of those convicted had no serious history of criminality and some of those convicted sold their own passports or those of consenting relatives for up to £200 at the store, called TJ's Trading Post.

Jennifer Twite, policy adviser at Just for Kids Law, a legal charity that helps young people caught up in the criminal justice system, said: "It concerns me that this operation may have encouraged people to commit crime, which is damaging both to society and to those who may not have otherwise ever received a criminal record.

"Particularly unfortunate were those cases where people were selling their own passports or those who had never been in trouble before."

Shauneen Lambe, executive director of Just for Kids Law, added that the operation was costly to the taxpayer but that also a criminal record would limit job prospects for the young people who had been caught.

"I believe a police force should exist to prevent crime, not create it. But this use of police resources is concerning to me not only as a lawyer for young people but also as a taxpayer."

(H)