{"id":217,"date":"2009-03-30T09:35:13","date_gmt":"2009-03-30T09:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.moneylaunderingcompliance.com\/?p=217"},"modified":"2009-09-08T09:42:46","modified_gmt":"2009-09-08T09:42:46","slug":"300309-wirral-drug-barons-wifes-champagne-lifestyle-comes-to-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.moneylaunderingcompliance.com\/index.php\/general-news\/300309-wirral-drug-barons-wifes-champagne-lifestyle-comes-to-end","title":{"rendered":"30.03.09 Wirral drug baron’s wife’s Champagne lifestyle comes to end"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

\"liverpool-daily-post-news-dynamic-panels-image-3-7581387671\"<\/a>SHE enjoyed a life of the most vulgar excess, once joining her husband for a \u00a3600 chauffeur ride to Claridges for a \u00a3345 meal at Gordon Ramsay\u2019s restaurant. But yesterday the glamorous wife of a Liverpool drugs baron was locked up for laundering his ill-gotten gains. Former beautician Sara Shea used her university-educated husband Keith\u2019s drug money to pay for an enviable lifestyle of luxury.<\/p>\n

He was locked up for 15 years in 2007 for plotting to flood the streets with cocaine, while storing a deadly arsenal of weapons.<\/p>\n

The couple married in a lavish Barbados beach ceremony \u2013 spending \u00a312,000 on flights alone \u2013 before throwing a \u00a36,000 homecoming at Wirral\u2019s Hillbark hotel. They splashed out \u00a31,095 on dinner in the Oxo Tower \u2013 washed down with a \u00a3850 bottle of Cristal champagne. Their love of designer watches included an exclusive Chopard, a diamond-encrusted Chanel and his 18-carat gold Rolex. The latter cost \u00a311,530.<\/p>\n

Of course, no luxury lifestyle is complete without expensive cars.\u00a0 The Sheas had their share of Porsches, before settling on the \u00a3110,000 Aston Martin police found when they raided their \u00a3300,000 Wallasey home, where the steam room had its own plasma TV. The Aston was accompanied by a \u00a346,500 BMW and a \u00a376,000 Porsche.<\/p>\n

In just a year, the Sheas spent \u00a390,000 in lavish entertainment, including \u00a35,000 on hospitality at the British Open golf and \u00a31,000 a time hiring a box at the MEN Arena. Mrs Shea owned handbags worth \u00a312,000, with an account at Christian Dior\u2019s boutique in Monaco.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, smartly-dressed with sunglasses, and carrying a designer bag, she was jailed for 2\u00bd years. Judge David Harris, QC, said: \u201cThere are other partners who may be in this position.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe message has to go out that, if they meddle in the proceeds of crime, particularly drug crime, there will be serious repercussions for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Liverpool Crown Court heard the jet-set couple holidayed in luxurious resorts in Mexico, Marbella, and Nice. Sara Shea claimed she never knew her husband was a drugs lord.<\/p>\n

But Graham Pickavance, prosecuting, told the court the couple were stripped of \u00a37,000 and 2000 euros at Liverpool\u2019s John Lennon airport that was heavily contaminated with Class A drugs. Mrs Shea was carrying half the money, which they never tried to reclaim. The dark-haired 30-year-old, of Montpellier Court, Wallasey, later admitted she suspected their life-style was funded by crime.<\/p>\n

She admitted 11 money laundering charges, totaling \u00a3104,000.
\nJonathan Clarke, defending, told the court Sara Shea had inadvertently become involved because of her husband\u2019s actions. He said: \u201cIt is an unusual case because this defendant has played no role whatsoever in the offences that lay in such funding coming into the household coffers.
\n\u201cHer money laundering was simply spending the money she received from her husband, or being in possession of items he had bought. \u201cShe found herself there rather than seeking it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Clarke told the court Shea, who is now dependant on beta blockers and sleeping tablets, had moved away from crime and had been working full-time in Debenhams. She had no wish to return to her husband.<\/p>\n

Judge Harris agreed Sara Shea had \u201cundoubted qualities\u201d, but said she had led an \u201cexcessively luxurious lifestyle\u201d. \u201cYou chose to turn a blind eye, to ask no questions and to shelter yourself from developing certain knowledge to the nature of his activity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keith and Sara Shea will face a \u2018proceeds of crime\u2019 hearing on July 18.<\/p>\n

Visit\u00a0the BTC\u00a0website<\/a> for compliance help and support for firms in the regulated sector.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SHE enjoyed a life of the most vulgar excess, once joining her husband for a \u00a3600 chauffeur ride to Claridges for a \u00a3345 meal at Gordon Ramsay\u2019s restaurant. But yesterday the glamorous wife of a Liverpool drugs baron was locked up for laundering his ill-gotten gains. Former beautician Sara Shea used her university-educated husband Keith\u2019s drug money to pay for an enviable lifestyle of luxury.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[35,37,38],"class_list":["post-217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-news","tag-money-laundering-offences","tag-prosecutions","tag-uk-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moneylaunderingcompliance.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moneylaunderingcompliance.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moneylaunderingcompliance.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moneylaunderingcompliance.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moneylaunderingcompliance.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.moneylaunderingcompliance.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":307,"href":"https:\/\/www.moneylaunderingcompliance.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217\/revisions\/307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moneylaunderingcompliance.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moneylaunderingcompliance.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moneylaunderingcompliance.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}