Motivation for taking part was ‘purely greed’

RECORDER David Swinnerton said Rehman was ‘motivated purely by greed’.

Sentencing, he said: “I find it hard to believe you are as naïve as you claim to be in your pre-sentence report. You are an intelligent man.

“You played an important role in that you provided the bank account and siphoned the money from the bank account.

“Without people like you coming in at the end this sort of scam wouldn’t work.

“The message has to go out that people who are prepared to assist in laundering £85,000 through their bank account for criminals more sophisticated than themselves can expect to serve an immediate custodial sentence.”

Defence barrister Afzal Anwar said the ‘hard-working’ defendant was a man of previous good character and volunteers in the local community.

He said: “He is remorseful and sorry for his actions. He takes full responsibility.

“He was struggling with his finances. It was an opportunistic, one-off offence.

“There is no suggestion that he was involved in anything else. He was just involved towards the end.”