Man in £1m dirty money plot faces jail

Terrence Thackrah, 58, who previously lived in Wakefield, was arrested last November by officers from West Yorkshire Police when he was about to leave Stansted Airport with his Thai wife for his home in Northern Cyprus having returned to Yorkshire to visit family.

Yesterday he appeared at Leeds Crown Court and admitted two charges of converting criminal property between February 24, 2003 and September 26, 2009, the first involving 615,662 and the second 494,832.

Elyas Patel, prosecuting, said Thackrah was a client relief manager who had worked for nearly 25 years for Green Flag and Direct Line, subsidiaries of the Royal Bank of Scotland, until he retired in 2007 and moved abroad.

He diverted the money concerned into two accounts which he set up, Motoring Gold and Lawn Tennis Squash Badminton Indoor Bowls.

Sanderson Munroe, for Thackrah, told the court it was not a sophisticated fraud done with others but an individual one carried out because of his personal circumstances.

Judge Roger Ibbotson agreed to adjourn the case until next month for a pre-sentence report but warned Thackrah: "You must expect a significant custodial sentence."