An alleged money
launderer, arrested after police raided his flat and seized large
amounts of cash, told a jury today it was the proceeds of a
successful gambling enterprise.
John Sidney
Watson, 63, was in Spain when officers raided his home in Rusham
Road, Balham, seizing £190,000 cash, plus another £250,000 when
they searched the property again a year later.
He is on trial at
Inner London Crown Court, accused of possessing criminal property,
but insists the money was legitimately earned with the assistance of
a gambling expert.
Watson claimed:
“They were bets beyond my capability, doubles, trebles,
accumulators. He would take the stake, invest it, and take a
percentage if I won.”
The gambling
expert, who he only knew as 'Mr. Longbottom' began placing bets in
2009 and Watson says he quickly found himself £30-35,000 down.
“I thought I'd
try out for a few thousand and he lost five thousand in the first
couple of weeks.”
In their first
search investigators found bundles of cash inside a guitar case, up
Watson's chimney and on top of a bedroom wardrobe.
“It makes sense
to hide it,” he told the court. “I wouldn't put it in a display
cabinet.”
The large sums are
not unusual for a punter seeking good returns, Watson insisted.
“In the gambling
world these sums are sloshing around. I had a target I was building
towards.
“I would have
liked a million, half a million. That would have been something.”
Trial
continues............
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