UK Crime Agency Seizes Leeds Property Linked to Former Lord Mayor After Court Ruling

The National Crime Agency (NCA) has taken possession of a property in north Leeds following a prolonged legal dispute involving former Lord Mayor of Leeds, Abigail Marshall Katung.

The house located on Sandmoor Drive in the Alwoodley area of Leeds was seized after the High Court ruled that Marshall Katung had no legitimate legal interest in the property.

Marshall Katung, who represents the Little London & Woodhouse ward, had previously paid about £400,000 towards the purchase of the property.

She was elected as a councillor in 2019 on the platform of the Labour Party and served as Lord Mayor of Leeds between 2024 and 2025. She currently sits as an independent councillor.

A spokesperson for Leeds City Council said the council was unaware of the personal civil court case between Marshall Katung and the NCA until the High Court judgment was made public.

“At the time this story first emerged we were unaware of the personal civil court case between the former Lord Mayor of Leeds, Abigail Marshall Katung and the National Crime Agency until publication of the High Court judgement,” the spokesperson said.

“In light of this we conducted thorough investigations and found no connection to the council in this case.”

The NCA originally obtained legal title to the property in October 2020 as part of a £10 million civil recovery settlement with a businessman suspected of money laundering offences.

According to the agency, Marshall Katung was not a party to the earlier proceedings but had entered into an agreement with the previous owner in 2015 to purchase the luxury property for £1 million.

The court heard that she paid a deposit of approximately £400,000, while the remaining balance was never settled and the transaction was not completed.

There is no suggestion that Marshall Katung was aware of the alleged criminal activity linked to the former owner.

However, during the court proceedings it was revealed that the majority of funds used for the deposit were transferred from Nigeria to the United Kingdom through an informal value transfer system described in court as a “parallel” or “black market” channel.

The judge noted that Marshall Katung had provided limited documentation regarding the transfer of funds into her company’s UK bank account. Her husband, Sunday Marshall Katung, who was alleged to be the source of the funds, did not submit a witness statement during the trial.

In his ruling, the judge described these omissions as “telling” and concluded that he was not satisfied that Marshall Katung was “a particularly reliable witness.”

In June 2025, the High Court ruled that she had no legitimate claim to the property. Her attempt to appeal the judgment was later rejected, with the court stating that the appeal had “no real prospect of success.”

The NCA subsequently obtained a writ of possession in February 2026, which was enforced on March 5.

Head of Asset Denial at the NCA, Rob Burgess, said the agency deploys both civil and criminal powers to investigate assets in the UK believed to be proceeds of crime.

“This matter has taken a considerable amount of time to litigate — at the taxpayer’s expense. Now that the NCA has gained possession of the property, it will be sold, with the proceeds returned to the public purse,” he said.