Lorry driver accused of faking £1m cigarette heist at Birkenhead docks

Aug 19 2009 by Luke Traynor, Birkenhead News

A LORRY driver is accused of faking a £1m cigarette heist at Birkenhead docks.

Dad-of-two Brian Fogg, 47, is charged with conspiracy to steal as part of a “daring con” across Merseyside, Cheshire and Humberside.

It is alleged he fabricated a story that he was hijacked by knifemen on the M53 motorway on August 7 last year.

Detectives claim Fogg then drove to the Mersey waterfront, transferred the cigarettes into his lorry and drove to Killingholme, near Hull.

The conspiracy allegedly ended with the Montgomery Transport driver tying himself up and gagging himself before police discovered him.

His wife Janet, 45, is accused of assisting him in his plot by laundering money and will stand trial alongside her husband. The massive haul of cigarettes has never been recovered.

Cheshire Police issued a series of high-profile appeals and motorway reconstructions and even issued a £50,000 reward.

But further enquiries in recent months have caused the police investigation to take a different turn.

Fogg, of Chorley, Lancashire, is set to deny the allegations at a trial due to start in September. He will also face a second conspiracy to steal charge during the same trial.