Council’s enforcement team brings money launderer to justice

A money launderer who banked thousands of pounds from scam operations in Cheshire East and other parts of the North West has been brought to justice, following an intensive operation by the Council’s trading standards enforcement team and the authority’s financial investigator.

A judge at Chester Crown Court sentenced James Bicknell to 20 months in prison with 100 hours’ unpaid community work and a three-month curfew.

The prison sentence was suspended for two years.

Bicknell had laundered more than £34,000 through his bank account on behalf of the Traveller community and pleaded guilty to two offences related to money laundering.

The money was obtained through rogue trading activities and one victim, from Crewe, handed over a cheque for £8,000 for home improvement work.

The work was never done but Bicknell banked the proceeds on behalf of the scammers, taking part of the payment for his ‘service’.

By tracing further payments, credited to Bicknell’s bank account, the team identified a number of other payments across the North West, which led to the identification of further victims.

The Council’s enforcement team closed down the operation but Bicknell, from Blackburn in Lancashire, had evaded punishment until finally appearing in court in Chester last week.

The money laundering scam went on for 10 months, much of it in Cheshire East, before enforcement teams shut down the network and discovered that Bicknell had also been taking a slice of the payments.

Councillor Paul Bates, Cabinet member for communities and health, said: “I congratulate our team in bringing this man to justice.

“Money laundering is a serious crime and removing people like Bicknell from their illegal activities has an impact on many others who are channelling their ill-gotten proceeds through his bank account.

“Cheshire East is an enforcing authority and this conviction and sentence sends out the message that we will act on behalf of our residents to eliminate activities of this nature.”