Money launderers who targeted football club owner jailed

Five men convicted of money laundering - which included hacking a football club owner's bank account - have been jailed.

Almost £1.5m of "dirty money" was channelled through Ian Robertson's law firm in Paisley.

This included nearly £1m from the account of the unnamed multi-millionaire football boss.

Robertson and four other men denied the charges but were found guilty at the High Court in Glasgow.

The former lawyer had claimed he had been duped and his law firm targeted by criminals.

The trial was sparked by a Law Society of Scotland probe into the Robertson and Ross legal firm in Causeyside Street, Paisley.

The case centred on four separate transactions, with the largest involving the owner of a UK football club.

The court was told that £985,000 of the businessman's money ended up in a client account of Robertson's firm.

The businessman gave no authorisation for the transfer, and only became aware of it when he was contacted by his bank's fraud team.

Robertson, 69, and David Lyons, 71, both of Kilmacolm, Inverclyde, as well as Mohammed Aziz, 61, of Glasgow's Partick, were convicted of a charge of being involved in serious organised crime.

The three, along with Alistair Blackwood, 68, of Dunlop, East Ayrshire, and Robert Ferguson, 67, of Thornliebank, East Renfrewshire, were also found guilty of charges under the Proceeds of Crime Act, which took place between 2015 and 2016.

Robertson was jailed for eight years with Lyons, Aziz and Blackwood sentenced to seven years each. Ferguson was jailed for 16 months.

Addressing Robertson, Lyons and Aziz, Lord Richardson said: "You collectively formed a crucial link to a web of criminality that spread across the UK.

"You did this by cleaning the proceeds of crime and thereby gave them (other criminals) access to their ill-gotten gains.

"On any view, your conduct was highly reprehensible."

Robertson had been the partner at his firm responsible for dealing with money laundering issues.

Lord Richardson said: "Society expects and demands lawyers to act in honesty and integrity at all times.

"You undermined the very trust which underpins legal practice and commerce to take place."

The judge said Blackwood had also been convicted of charges of "a very grave nature".