Bridlington man John Lannen jailed after laundering £30,000 for cowboy roofers who conned elderly woman

John Lannen, 69, from Bridlington, allowed the conmen to deposit their ill-gotten gains in his bank accounts in exchange for a payment, York Crown Court heard.

Lannen then withdrew money from cash machines across the country, including in Scarborough, Lancashire, London and Glasgow.

Prosecutor Mark McKone said the 79-year-old victim - who paid about 30 times over the odds for the rudimentary work - was visited by two unidentified men early in 2018 when they asked her if she needed any work doing on her roof.

“She said she needed her loft doing as she thought it was a mess,” added Mr McKone.

“She did not ask for a price as she trusted them.”

The woman, who was named in court, told the roofers that some of the wood was rotten and asked for work to be carried out on both her loft and roof.

“They installed plastic sheeting and later new insulation,” said Mr McKone.

“The work took two to three weeks, but she never saw the men working on the outside of the roof - just the inside.”

When the work was completed, she asked for a fee and one of the men, who went by the name of ‘Peter’, quoted her £33,000.

The victim couldn’t afford this, so she agreed to hand him a first cheque for £18,000 in April 2018 and then cash in her shares to pay the remaining £15,000 the following month.

A building inspector later valued the work at about £1,000, said Mr McKone.

“The money was withdrawn at various locations across the country, including Uxbridge (in West London), Scarborough, Morecambe and Glasgow,” he added.

“£11,800 was transferred into different accounts in Lannen’s name before it was withdrawn.”

Police traced the money to Lannen’s accounts and he was duly hauled in for questioning in December 2018. He denied any wrongdoing, claiming he “met a (man) in a pub” called “Paddy”.

Lannen said “Paddy” had asked him if he could deposit some money into his accounts but that he had no idea that the cheques had been obtained illegally, so he agreed.

“He said he thought ‘Paddy’ was from Middlesbrough and a traveller,” added Mr McKone.

“He said he thought he was just doing someone a favour. He said there was nothing in it for him except (he) got a lot of drinks in the pub from ‘Paddy’.

“The Crown says John Lannen would have been paid a reasonable amount to launder the £33,000.”

Lannen, of Stepney Avenue, Bridlington, ultimately pleaded guilty to converting criminal property, or money-laundering, between February and June 2018. He appeared for sentence on Friday.

The court heard he had eight previous convictions for 25 offences including trademark crime in 2012.

Defence barrister Ian Shaw said that according to Lannen, he had made no financial gain “except maybe some drinks in a public house”.

“He may well have been identified by ‘Paddy’ as the type of man who would do his bidding,” added Mr Shaw.

Judge Simon Hickey said it was a “common-sense inference” that Lannen “must have been motivated by financial gain” in agreeing to launder such a large amount of money for the fraudsters, who had carried out “completely bogus” work on the victim’s home.

He told Lannen: “You admitted travelling all around the country assisting in withdrawing various amounts from various locations.

“You said you didn’t think an approach by these two men was suspicious. You (must have known) these two weren’t legitimate people and (it) wasn’t legitimate money.”

Lannen was jailed for 16 months, of which he will serve half behind bars before being released on prison licence.

Mr Hickey also set a timetable for financial-confiscation proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

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