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A milkman who got into financial difficulties was found with more than £180,000 in his car.

Daniel Brown, 45, from Ormskirk was found with a carrier bag and rucksack containing £181,945 in cash, hidden in a secret compartment in the boot of his car.

He was stopped by officials from HM Revenue and Customs on February 14, 2018 on Bury Old Road in Manchester.

He was asked if he had any money in the car and replied, ‘Only what’s in my wallet’. But a search revealed £181, 945 in cash hidden between the back passenger seats and the boot.

(Image: Crown Prosecution Service)

Brown’s black Nokia mobile phone was also seized.

He later told the officers that he was asked to do a delivery job cash in hand, and had no idea what was in the bags. He said he had money problems and was desperate, so had agreed to do it.

Brown, of Mulberry Close, Ormskirk, eventually pleaded guilty to possessing criminal property and today at Manchester Crown Court he was given a 16-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and must do 15 days of a Rehabilitation Activity and complete 120 hours of unpaid work in the community.

Maqsood Khan, of Mersey Cheshire Crown Prosecution Service’s Fraud Unit said: “Mr Brown’s fingerprints were not on the carrier bag or rucksack and we accepted his guilty plea to agreeing to take the cash to an address and his assertion that he hadn’t been involved in how the money had been made.

(Image: Crown Prosecution Service)

“Mr Brown said he wasn’t involved in a criminal gang and had agreed to deliver the bags to another address because he was struggling and desperately needed to raise money fast.

“He took instructions over the phone about what to do with the money by a man using a false name. The CPS also accepted that the secret compartment was in the car before Mr Brown had bought it, but the court did not accept that he didn’t know it existed.

“A man of previous good character has been caught breaking the law in a very serious way. He has dipped his toe into the murky word of organised crime and is paying the price. This should be a lesson to anyone who thinks that doing something like this ever solves anything. It just makes matters a whole lot worse.”

Paul Maybury, Assistant Director, Fraud Investigation Service, HMRC, said:

“Money laundering helps organised gangs profit from their crimes and we will not hesitate to prosecute those involved. The cash here is equivalent to the wages of eight trainee police officers for a year.

“I urge anybody who knows of someone handling large quantities of unexplained cash, or committing any type of tax fraud, to report it to HMRC online or call our Fraud Hotline on 0800 788 887.”

The money was forfeited at an uncontested hearing on 4 April 2018. The car will now be destroyed.