A criminal who laundered almost £100,000 has been jailed for three years.
Peter Rawson, 37, was found guilty after a trial of money laundering and possessing class C drugs, diazepam, with intent to supply.
Jailing him at Bradford Crown Court yesterday, the judge, Recorder Jonathan Sandiford, told Rawson: “It seems to me there was an element of professionalism in your criminality.”
Describing it as “classic money laundering behaviour,” Recorder Sandiford added: “You were a man prepared to take in any cash if there was money to be made. You were something of a chancer. You didn’t care where the money came from.”
Rawson, a self-employed window cleaner, was arrested after police executed a search warrant at his home in Henley Road, West Bowling, in April, 2011, and seized more than 1,400 diazepam tablets, valued at between £1,500 and £7,500, and almost £3,000 cash.
Recorder Sandiford said it was a not insignificant quantity of controlled drugs. He told Rawson he had to sentence him for money laundering of just under under £100,000, though he said some of the money he received went to pay other people and the costs of his legitimate window cleaning business.
The judge said that over five years, £198,000 was paid into Rawson’s bank account, but some of it was accounted for.
He said some money had been transferred offshore to Thailand and brought back in carrier bags.
Recorder Sandiford said: “You appeared to be offering a money laundering service over a period of time. Some of the money was probably proceeds of your own criminality, whether it was tax evasion or something more sinister, but some of it must have belonged to other people. It is necessary to deter other people from offering the service you did in this case.”
Rawson’s barrister, Richard Wright QC, said his client had done work for a children’s cancer charity and had sent food parcels to British troops serving in Afghanistan. After the case, Detective Inspector Mark Strother, of Bradford South CID, said: “Thousands of tablets were found during a warrant executed at Rawson’s address, alongside significant amounts of cash. These drugs were likely destined for the streets of Bradford, the proceeds of which were being distributed into his accounts both home and abroad.
“We are determined to tackle those who aim to profit at the expense of the local community. Confiscation proceedings will now follow.”
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