A man who delivered a quarter of a million pounds of criminal cash in bin bags to a Bradford jewellery business has been spared an immediate prison sentence.

John Beresford made two trips to courier holdalls of banknotes to Fowler Oldfield in Hall Lane, in the Bowling area of the city, which was at the centre of a massive money laundering operation.

Beresford, 40, of Tyersal Close, Tyersal, Bradford, agreed to deliver the cash five years ago, a month before the police raided the premises and seized the CCTV.

Prosecutor Jon Savage told Bradford Crown Court earlier this week that Beresford was caught on camera bringing the money in a large holdall on August 19, 2016.

He turned up in his own vehicle at 2.30pm and took the cash into the reception area.

It was taken out in bin bags and later found to total £149,950.

Mr Savage said the scheme involved the courier being given a banknote that acted as a coded password to prove the money had been handed over.

Beresford returned to the business on August 24 that year for a similar transaction involving £100,510.

On September 8, 2016, West Yorkshire Police swooped on the premises and arrests followed.

Beresford said he was delivering the money for a friend with a car cleaning business in Bradford.

He had his suspicions after the first drop-off but agreed to return with a second holdall, the court heard during Monday's hearing.

He went on to plead guilty to money laundering along with a succession of other men drawn into the criminality.

Derek Duffy said in mitigation that Beresford had turned his life around in the more than five years since committing the offence.

He was now self-employed and earning an honest living having “turned a page in his life.”

Judge Colin Burn sentenced him to 21 months imprisonment, suspended for two years.

He must perform 160 hours of unpaid work in the next 18 months.

Judge Burn set a Proceeds of Crime Act timetable to look at clawing back any benefit Beresford may have had from the offending.

He is one of a succession of defendants, many from the Merseyside area, who were caught couriering banknotes to Fowler Oldfield.

It is estimated that up to £2 million of criminal money was being processed there every day.

When the police raided the building they seized receipts, cash books and a ledger.

An analysis of the CCTV system led to the identification of a good many people arriving with large quantities of cash.