A MAN from Barnoldswick man, jailed for "laundering" drugs cash, has won a substantial cut in his jail term at London's Criminal Appeal Court.

Mark Vickers, 40, pleaded guilty to possessing £7,000 - the alleged proceeds of a drugs dealers trafficking - and was jailed for two and a half years, and fined £1,800 at Bradford Crown Court in November last year.

Vickers was also ordered to forfeit his Mitsubishi Shogun car, valued at around £22,000, and was given a consecutive nine month term for failing to surrender to bail.

Three appeal court judges reduced by a year his original overall sentence of three years and three months.

Vickers, of Manchester Road, Barnoldswick, was arrested in January 1998 after police trailed him home after keeping him and a suspected drugs dealer under surveillance in Skipton.

On searching his vehicle, officers found £7,000 in cash, which the prosecution asserted was the proceeds of the dealer's heroin transactions.

Mr Justice Penry Davey, sitting with Lord Justice Mance and the Recorder of Birmingham, told the appeal court:"Taking into account all the circumstances, which include the amount involved in the offence, in our judgement the sentence for the money laundering offence should have been one of 18 months."

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