Driver with £7k hidden in his shorts said it was for 'a hair transplant'

Yahoo

09-05-2025

A MOTORIST stopped by the police on the M6 near Carlisle said the £7,000 in his shorts was to pay for a hair transplant.
The man offered that explanation to police officers during a conversation when he repeatedly changed his account for why he had been to Scotland and why he had the money.
At the city's Rickergate court, a Cumbria Constabulary financial investigator said that the man - in his 30s and from Manchester – initially claimed he had been to Lanarkshire to visit his grandmother.
He said she was unwell and that was why he visited.
But when pressed for details, said the investigator, the man was unable to provide any, including his grandmother's address or even the town where he claimed she was living.
Nor could he provide any other details.
The man also gave misleading information about his recent past, which police say has included him being arrested on suspicion of producing the Class B drug cannabis.
The financial investigator had earlier outlined how the police stopped the defendant's Seat car on the afternoon of May 2, on the hard shoulder near to Southwaite Services.
The officers searched the car. Under the driver's seat, they found a car containing a small jar of cannabis.
'The officers also found that the driver had something concealed in his shorts, which he said was some cash,' said the investigator. 'He stated that he did not know how much was there.
'He also said he did not know whose cash it was but it was not his. The money was in a plastic, heat-sealed bag and appeared to be in Bank of Scotland notes.'
A short time later, the man changed his account, telling the officers that there was in fact £7,400 in cash and that his grandmother had given him the money to fund a hair transplant.
Around £2,000 of the money, he said, was for his mother.
The investigator asked Deputy District Judge Andrew Teate to grant an order under the Proceeds of Crime Act that allows Cumbria Police to continue holding the cash for a further four months so that its origins can be further investigated.
The judge granted the order, ruling that, on the balance of probabilities, there are grounds for suspecting the money is either the product of or linked to criminal activity.
The driver was told in advance about the police application but he was not in court for the hearing.