Gregg Milner jailed for 16 months

Gregg Milner, 41, of Drake Street, Rochdale, has been jailed for 16 months after changing his plea to guilty of removing criminal property out of the UK on the day of his trial.

Milner was at the wheel of a £90,000 Range Rover when he told Border Guards he was heading to Paris with a friend. He claimed he was doing a pal a favour and told officials the vehicle was owned by a “John McIntyre”.

In fact, the vehicle was stolen – and Milner later admitted being paid £500 for the trip.

Prosecutor Ed Fowler told Canterbury Crown Court how the vehicle was stopped at Dover Easter Docks in Kent on 22 October 2014 heading to France.

Officials then discovered it was travelling on fake number plates and had been stolen weeks earlier and parked in Ilford.

Milner told police he had been promised £500 by a “an Asian man called Bobby” to drive the vehicle to the Continent where it was to be sold.

He said he realised it was a criminal enterprise when he was taken to Ilford where he met other members of the gang.

His lawyer Keiran Moroney told the judge that Milner had “succumbed to greed” and was not a major player in the illegal enterprise.

But Judge Adele Williams told him: “In my opinion, you were taking part in professional crime.

“This was a stolen high performance Range Rover which you were taking out of the jurisdiction of the UK where it would, no doubt, be sold.”