Couple sentenced for money laundering

A Middleton couple who fraudulently cashed cheques for thousands of pounds have today, 12 February 2010 been sentenced.

David Andrew Livesey, born 8/9/77, of Martindale Crescent and Victoria Margaret Davies, born 10/5/88, of The Heath, Middleton, had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing at Bolton Crown Court to money laundering.

Davies was sentenced to nine months imprisonment and Livesey was sentenced to six months imprisonment, suspended for two years, and ordered to carry out 150 hours unpaid work.

The pair were arrested on 24 September 2008 at the Bradford and Bingley, Middleton, following an investigation by the building society into suspicious activity in Davies' account.

On 1 September 2008 Davies had requested a £50 bankers cheque from the branch, which was stamped with a unique identification number.

This cheque was altered to read £26,500 and was presented to a building society in Luton and the amount credited to Davies' account.

The couple carried out a number of fraudulent transactions, including £20,000 which they attempted to use to pay for a new car.

When officers searched their house they found a bank statement with thousands of pounds paid in by two people who had earlier reported fraudulent transactions in their accounts.

Detective Constable Ben Harris, of Rochdale CID, said: "This pair of chancers fraudulently claimed more than £20,000 over a period of weeks.

"We take economic crime extremely seriously and this case demonstrates that we will pursue anyone we believe to be claiming cash that isn't rightfully theirs."