Three people sentenced for money laundering

Gwynne Hollis, 55, of Common Lane, East Ardsley, Wakefield, appeared before Leeds Crown Court yesterday and was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment.

Hollis was arrested in March 2010 along with two women aged 47 and 72 following an operation – codenamed Limewood – by West Yorkshire Police’s Economic Crime Unit.

At the time three addresses in the Gildersome, Rothwell and Beeston areas of Leeds were searched and a large quantity of cash, Class A drugs, a motorhome, two Lambretta scooters and jewellery was seized.

Hollis and a 47-year-old woman pleaded guilty to converting criminal property and conspiracy to convert criminal property at the beginning of the trial and a 72-year-old woman was found guilty of converting £63,000 into credits into her accounts and conspiracy to convert £153,000 into a property in Spain.

The women, both of East Ardsley, have been sentenced to a 12- month community service order and ordered to pay costs of £250 at yesterday’s hearing.