Jewish Convict Freed

A Holocaust survivor who experienced flashbacks to his war ordeal after he was jailed for his part in a £6.9million money laundering operation was freed as an 'act of mercy'.

Since being incarcerated five weeks ago, 76-year-old Mendel Rand, originally from Poland, had relived daily the trauma of being kept hidden from the Nazis in horrible conditions as a boy, the Court of Appeal heard.
 

Jewish Holocaust Survivor Suffers

Mr Justice Openshaw accepted that 'the wretched old man' had suffered enough punishment for his involvement in the crime which had brought shame to his family and disgraced him in the eyes of his strict community of Hasidic Jews.

"The resultant shame will no doubt bring a heavy burden for him to carry for the rest of his life," said the judge. "We think, as an act of mercy, he should be allowed to go free."

Rand's 18-month prison term was replaced with a two-year suspended sentence.

Hidden From Nazis

Rand was convicted in November 2004 of a money laundering conspiracy, which involved helping cigarette smugglers dispose of the proceeds of their crime. Mr Justice Openshaw said that when Rand's parents were arrested in Krakow during the Second World War, their son was kept hidden from the Nazis by a sympathiser 'often in cellars in the cold and dark, often under-nourished and, of course, in constant fear of capture'.

"This experience has cast a pall over his whole life," the judge added. "Now he daily relives the experience."

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