Hampton Court: Man jailed for 12 years over £3.5m houseboat fraud

Myck Djurberg (right), who has been jailed for 12 years, arriving at a court in London in 2017

A man has been jailed for 12 years over a £3.5m fraud involving houseboats on the River Thames in south-west London.

Myck Djurberg, 64, purchased a boatyard near Hampton Court in 2011 and built and sold a series of expensive houseboats without planning permission or residential mooring licences.

At Kingston Crown Court last week, he was convicted of four counts of fraudulently selling houseboats without appropriate planning permission.

He was sentenced at the same court.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Djurberg had assured his clients the houseboats could be used for residential purposes, and they would have no issues in mooring them long term.

After the sales had gone through and the purchasers moved into their houseboats, they discovered Djurberg did not have planning permission for the project and the moorings he had sold were unlawful, the CPS said.

Unlawful pontoons

It added a police investigation discovered Djurberg had only acquired planning permission for leisure mooring, not residential, and he had not paid the Environment Agency for this licence.

Richmond Borough Council, which had served several enforcement notices on Djurberg, attended the location of the boats and removed some of the unlawful pontoons.

The criminal case comes after a High Court civil case in 2017, when the court ordered Djurberg to pay back £1.8m for two houseboats due to misrepresentation and breach of contract.

The CPS says this area of the River Thames is where Djurberg fraudulently sold houseboats and moorings

Andrew West, specialist prosecutor for the CPS, said: "Djurberg did not have planning consent in place to use boats for residential purposes, as dwellings nor for commercial business occupation.

"Despite this, he fraudulently sold five houseboats, financially gaining from the misfortune of his customers.

"Following this conviction, we will pursue confiscation proceedings to ensure that Djurberg pays back the money he gained through this criminal operation."

Djurberg was jailed for nine years, with another three to be served consecutively, plus another two sentences of six years each to be served concurrently, for the four counts of fraud by false representation.

He was found not guilty of a fifth charge.

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