Did you think their sentences were too heavy?

I was actually surprised they were so low and the reason is Parker discovered the keys to the safe and he showed the others how to use it.

It was then their own free will to use it as often as they did.

Now what they could have done is they could have stolen little bits infrequently.

It's possible nobody would ever have noticed.

But they were so greedy, they took so much so quickly that it obviously it rang alarm bells and everyone found out.

How can it be that someone else we understand has basically come to end up walking away with one of Parker's houses, and why can't you use the proceeds of crime act in that case to apply to it?

So I know what you're talking about there.

And ironically, given Parker's flippant attitude to his glitched wealth, the effort it took them to prove it would take a huge toll as days turned into months and months turned into years.

It began to take over.

So originally, I was told, "You've got a month away from your other jobs.

Crack this and then go back to your normal daily life." But as the job mushroomed, as we learned more, my other jobs were then reallocated to other people, and this is all I worked on for years.

The trawling of phones, the examination of digital material, th- the recovery of crypto from other countries.

I would wake up at 3:00 in the morning and think, "That's what that text message means." And then I'd have to somehow write it on me hand so when I got to work the next morning, I would know that line of inquiry that related to a text message that, up until that point, I didn't understand.

It was all-consuming.

Therefore, did it affect your personal life?

Lancashire Police Detective David Wainwright.

That is other people's money he's spending.

CoinSpot have to honor other people's trades.

People investing in crypto like they do stocks and shares.

People have legitimately made a lot of money investing in Bitcoin.

Well, that's other people's money he's taken.

This is Detective David Wainwright, who would see all of this later.

You can't get on the plane home because you'll be stopped at customs.

You can't rock up at the local bank because, even in Dubai, they'll ask you where it's come from and seize it from you.

So what do you do? He walks around Dubai with this million pounds in sterling, 6.4 million dirhams in a suitcase, and he finds his local friendly Russians and buys a villa.

Then has the audacity to complain that it took them all day to count all the money.

Who on earth would ever think that could possibly be legitimate?

Hard to think of a situation, isn't it? "Here's just a suitcase full of my gold bullion, Officer."

This is Detective David Wainright.

The town that was also home to the Grand Hotel that James Parker was now living in, and the town that Detective Constable David Wainwright would become familiar with back in 2017.

With a case like this, there was a certain element of disbelief.

Parker had a reputation along the Fylde Coast as being the self-proclaimed Bitcoin millionaire.

(car door slams) We heard stories of taxis (taxi door creaks open) that would race to calls to his address, almost like the Wacky Races because he'd give out such good cash tips.

(taxi phone rings) Part of it was just so brazen.

(taxi phone rings)

He'd bought cars, very expensive cars.

One story went that he was in the pub, got chatting to someone who was a bit down on their luck, and the next day he took them to the local dealership and bought them a car.