A convicted money launderer has filed an appeal against his three year, two month jail term.

Elton Sheldon, 60, of Ballachrink Drive, Onchan, was found guilty by a jury in November 2018 of four counts under the Proceeds of Crime Act and one of demanding property on forged documents. Fourteen months after he was convicted, he filed an appeal against his sentence.

Ordinarily, convicted offenders are given just 28 days to appeal after sentence.

Mr Sheldon represented himself at a directions hearing in the appeal court last Thursday when he was told that he would have to persuade the court why an extension of time should be granted.

Prosecutor Mark Benson said an application to extend the 28-day time limit would be opposed.

Mr Sheldon said that he could not get legal representation as he could not find a Manx advocate willing to represent him.

He said: ’I can’t get a lawyer, not that I don’t want to but unfortunately I’ve been pushed into a position because I can’t get one.’

The appellant claimed his defence advocate at trial had not told him about the 28-day time limit to appeal.

He said: ’Unfortunately when the trial was over he didn’t give me any information, he didn’t come and see me. He literally went missing. It was clear he didn’t want anything else to do with it.’

Mr Sheldon said he had contacted other lawyers but ’literally no one was interested’ - and one who initially told him he would represent him later said he was too busy to do so.

He said when you are in prison the means available to prepare for an appeal are very limited.

Mr Sheldon, who is due for release from prison on June 5 this year, said while he was jailed on the basis of money laundering £260,000, a subsequent proceeds of crime hearing stated a figure which was considerably lower.

Judge of appeal Jeremy Storey QC set an appeal hearing date for April 24.

He gave the appellant until March 26 to submit a statement explaining why he had delayed his appeal and to lodge a skeleton argument setting out why his sentence was wrong or excessive.

The jury at Mr Sheldon’s trial heard he was involved with a network that attempted to launder the proceeds of an elaborate fraud in France.

Other criminals had stolen Euro 1m from industrial equipment supplier Testo when its IT system was compromised with spyware.

A single transaction of Euro 301,752 of that fraud was transferred on January 20, 2016 from Testo’s bank account to a personal bank account opened by Mr Sheldon at Barclays Isle of Man some months before.