大象传媒

Fancy getting your hands on some cut price designer gear? Police forces and other agencies sell off goods they have seized 鈥� which can range from upmarket trainers to cars, watches and even houses in Spain. They are 鈥渟old as seen鈥� without warranties. But if you are happy to take the risk, you could bag a bargain.

What are Government auctions?

Government auctions听are听the auction of听goods听which have been听confiscated听by various Government bodies and agencies, such as the police. There are thousands of items seized each year through court orders, and items that can't be returned to their legal owner are auctioned off - Disposing lost and found, unclaimed,听stolen听and confiscated property.

Some police forces use an auction site called Bumblebee Auctions: . The items listed are often stolen products which police have been unable to trace back to its rightful owners. Some police forces have also set up their own official eBay store to sell recovered goods.

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What can you bid on?

Government auctions often have an eclectic range of items for sale and they can feature many luxury and designer brands. Lots regularly include expensive watches, vehicles, shoes, clothing, electronics and even property.听

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Where do the proceeds go?

Every police force uses the money it raises differently, but generally it goes back into the public purse 鈥� helping victims of crime, policing initiatives and good causes. Many items sold have no reserves.

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How can I find an auction?

Police forces don鈥檛 always advertise these auctions 鈥� and they are not held in every area. But if you search online for 鈥済overnment auctions鈥� or 鈥減olice auctions鈥� you can find the auction houses which hold them.

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How do I bid?

You have to register and pay a deposit to bid at an auction house. However, some auction houses also offer live internet and telephone bidding. Prior to the auction, photos and information about specific items are posted on the auction houses鈥� website and you can often view the items in person the day before the auction begins.

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Do I need to worry about criminals wanting their possessions back?

The items for sale have often been moved away from the town or city where they were seized and it鈥檚 unlikely anyone would be able to trace there seized goods. Some criminals will be aware that their possessions are being sold at auction and they鈥檝e given permission for it to go ahead. Co-operating with the authorities and allowing the sale of their assets can lessen their prison sentence and legal debts.

An investigation for 大象传媒 X-Ray has discovered that a convicted fraudster is involved in a group carrying out street collections in the name of children鈥檚 cancer.

The group, Natural Prevention Children's Cancer Support, has been spotted several times in Pontypridd and collects across Wales and England.

It鈥檚 not a charity, and bypasses rules on collecting in the street by selling leaflets for fifty pence. The leaflets say the money helps provide nutritional advice and support for the families of children with cancer.

Natural Prevention is run by a man called Tyler Parton. But X-Ray has established that the nutritional advice comes from convicted fraudster Kevin Wright.

His son got cancer in 2005, and Kevin Wright claimed his recovery was linked to his natural organic diet. But in 2013 he was jailed for four years for theft and fraud involving a million pounds he'd raised for children's cancer causes.听

Now he's free and giving advice on nutrition to the parents of children with cancer. X-Ray called him up pretending to be the mother of a four-year-old girl with cancer to see what sort of advice he gave.听

Kevin Wright said: "You want to be as close to eating nothing from a tin, jar, carton, packet or bottle as you can get. Don't use any cow's milk products of any description. Obviously, all pork products are out the window. The thing is with these highly refined sugars they really do affect the immune system, they really are very, very nasty, you know. The NHS really don't understand.鈥�

We played some of Kevin Wright's advice to a cancer specialist, Dr Martin Rolles from the Royal College of Radiologists in Wales.

Dr Rolles said: "Once someone has a diagnosis of cancer there is very little evidence that substantially changing the diet has any major effect on the cancer itself."

Kevin Wright was also sometimes dismissive of the advice given by NHS doctors.听

He said: "Ask a doctor, say, is it okay to have a night light on at night. If he says 'oh yeah, yeah, no problem', you need to look at him and think you are a **** idiot, mate. There is no doubt that artificial light at night increases your risk of cancer."

"All they know about is drugs. That's all they know about."

X-Ray contacted Tyler Parton, but he did not comment. Kevin Wright said his only involvement with the business was to answer the phone and provide support to parents. He said he has never made any money from the illnesses of children and didn鈥檛 hide his criminal record. 听Mr Wright said that feeding children fast food or fizzy drinks does not make sense, whether they are unwell or not. He denied seeking to undermine doctors with his advice.