A WOMAN from Dudley who helped stash cash accrued by her daughter’s corrupt boyfriend has been ordered to pay £46,000 back - 10 years after being convicted for money laundering.

Sharon Millard was jailed for six months in 2005 after a West Midlands Police investigation showed she’d processed £97,537 in ‘dirty money’ through her bank accounts.

A Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) order at the time forced her to hand over almost £51,000 but after pleading poverty the remaining £46,000 was left on file.

However, the force’s Economic Crime Unit re-opened the case last year and discovered the 59-year-old had paid off the mortgage on her Pensnett home and was sitting on tens of thousands of pounds in equity.

She was served with a court order restricting her financial dealings and at Wolverhampton Crown Court on March 12 was ordered to repay the outstanding amount or go back behind bars for another 18 months.

Detective Constable Yvonne Barwani, said: “We’re determined offenders can’t profit from crime and we never write off POCA debts – and as this case shows we can come knocking at any time, even years after an offence, to recover outstanding money.

“We routinely revisit such cases, examining new intelligence and delving into the person’s finances to see if they’ve come into any money, we’ll look to see if they’ve bought a vehicle or any other big ticket item.

“In this case I found Millard had paid off her mortgage in full and so had a substantial amount of equity that could be used to fulfil the original confiscation order.

“If she doesn’t pay up then she will be jailed – but even if that happens the debt stays with her and we’ll continue pursuing her for the money. It’s another great example of the Proceeds of Crime Act at work.”

Proceeds from POCA confiscations are collected by central government with a percentage returned to the force for spending on crime fighting priorities and crime prevention initiatives.