Police can keep ‘suspicious’ £215k found on M6 near Plumpton

One of the biggest money seizures in recent weeks was outlined at Carlisle's Rickergate court, where magistrates approved the forfeiture of GBP215,000 that was found in a man's hire car as he drove south on the M6. Cumbria Constabulary applied to permanently seize the cash under Proceeds of Crime legislation. During the hearing, a police financial investigator outlined how a London man in his mid-30s was stopped on the motorway near Plumpton just before 1pm on December 19 because he his Nissan Juke was hogging the middle lane.

His car was also seen to be weaving from side to side. When stopped by the police, he gave the officers a series of changing and inconsistent accounts for his journey, and he appeared nervous. He claimed he was on his way to Manchester, but officers did not believe him.

When the car was searched, police found a black sports bag in the boot, with it's zip glued into place. Inside was GBP215,000 in Scottish bank notes - bundles of GBP10 and GBP20 notes. Responding to questions about this, the driver said he had never seen the bag before and he had no idea who owned the cash.

He provided police with a prepared statement, saying that he had not looked into the car's boot when he hired it. After hearing that account, magistrates approved the application for the cash to be permanently forfeited. To do this, they had to be satisfied that the money was the proceeds of crime or intended for use in crime.

In a separate case this week, police applied to continue holding GBP11,000 in cash which was found in an Audi A3 car that was stopped near to Junction 41 on the M6 on Monday morning. The money was found in the boot. When questioned about the cash, the woman said it had been given to her by her boyfriend following the sale of a vehicle.

When police checked this out, he gave the same reason, but he could provide no details of the vehicle that was allegedly sold, a financial investigator told the city's Rickergate court. "He said he was about to leave the UK and travel to Jamaica," said the officer. The woman, from the west Midlands, did not attend the court hearing. After hearing the application, District Judge John Temperley said there were grounds for police to continue holding the money as the investigated its origins.

The detention order will last for six months.

The money that is forfeited in such hearings is ploughed back into the fight against crime, being split between the police force involved, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Home Office.

The rules for this are set by the 2002 Proceeds of Crime Act.