A money launderer who admitted using his bank account to receive and transfer thousands of pounds worth of criminal cash has been jailed for just over two years.

Fletcher Nelson, 24, from Snugborough Avenue, Union Mills, pleaded guilty to acquiring and transferring credit balances via his island bank account.

The charges involved £36,820 going into his account and £36,210 being transferred out.

Nelson also pleaded guilty to possessing 1.36kg of cannabis with intent to supply.

Prosecutor James Robinson said the defendant was arrested as part of Operation Extraction, an Economic Crime Unit investigation into a network that laundered criminal proceeds off the island.

He told the court that the defendant had a bank account with Barclay’s Bank in the island into which 25 cash credits totalling £36,820 were paid in between April 2022 and August 2023 and during the same period 23 transfers totalling £36,210 were paid out.

The transfers were marked as payments for a car, a puppy, holidays and tickets.

Mr Robinson said checks showed that Nelson had no legitimate income and was not in receipt of benefits.

His home address was searched and packages of cannabis were found. There drugs weighed 1.369kg and had a street value of £27,238.

The court heard that the defendant had two previous convictions for producing controlled drugs.

Mr Robinson said the defendant’s activities were linked to organised crime but that he was ‘not sat at the top of the tree’.

Jailing Nelson for 14 months for the drugs offence and 11 weeks consecutive - a total of 25 months - for the money laundering offences, Deemster Graeme Cook told him: ‘You were trying to make money out of criminal activity.’

He will serve half his sentence in custody before being released on licence.