Lawyer cleared of money laundering for travellers
A solicitor accused of laundering dirty money for a traveller who bought a Northamptonshire farm has been acquitted on all charges after the judge threw out the case against him.
James Muirhead, 59, was allegedly recruited to help a gang of travellers launder money made through VAT and mortgage scams.
The prosecution claimed Mr Muirhead helped buy four properties with the proceeds of criminal activity, provided by traveller Joseph Rooney.
Mr Muirhead was accused of using his legal expertise to transfer ownership of one of the properties – Lodge Farm, in Desborough Road, Braybrooke, near Market Harborough – to an off-shore Virgin Islands' company to disguise the fact the money was from criminal conduct and had come from Rooney, who has admitted money laundering and awaits sentence.
Christopher Donnellan QC, prosecuting, had told the jury Mr Muirhead had been working for Rooney, 34, who used a false ID to conceal the criminal property.
Mr Donnellan said: "He couldn't have done that without obtaining professional legal assistance. In September 2004 he turned to James Muirhead for that assistance."
Mr Muirhead, of Shepherds Green, Henley-upon-Thames, who denied four charges of concealing criminal property, met Rooney through Philip Edgehill, a second-hand car dealer from Newbury.
The jury heard Rooney had made large amounts of cash from tax evasion, avoiding paying duty on high value cars and mortgage fraud and Mr Muirhead allegedly helped launder the money through the purchases of Lodge Farm, two houses in Newbury and another in Luton between September 2004 and February 2006.
The prosecution closed its case last week but Judge Peter Morrell, sitting at Northampton Crown Court, threw it out after agreeing with defence submissions that there was no case to answer.
He then discharged the jury and entered not guilty verdicts on all charges, after ruling the prosecution may have proved the money had come from criminal conduct and was therefore 'dirty' but not that Mr Muirhead had known it was laundered money at the time he was involved with Rooney.
The judge told the jury: "The Court of Appeal has said it is not that you have to prove there's a lot of money but the prosecution must prove where it came from. It has to go even further and say that it was from criminal conduct.
"If the prosecution cannot prove where this money was earned or that it was proceeds of criminal conduct, then they do not have enough for a jury to consider if Mr Muirhead is guilty or not."
The judge then awarded him his defence costs which included private fees for a Queen's Counsel, junior barrister and solicitor for a two-week trial.
Sentencing for Rooney and a co-accused was adjourned for a date to be set.
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