A BUSINESSMAN has been found guilty of laundering thousands of pounds of crime cash and lying on mortgage applications to buy property.

Following a 10-day trial at Bolton Crown Court, Marlon Hibbert was found guilty of a total of 15 offences including providing false information, transferring and converting criminal property.

His partner, Heidi Armstrong, aged 40, was cleared of all four charges she faced, which involved providing false information to obtain mortgages and transferring £19,000 of crime money to the Cayman Islands.

It took the jury a day of deliberation to reach their verdicts.

During the trial the court heard how a police investigation had found massive differences between the couple's declared income and the amount of money passing through their bank accounts.

Between 2006 and 2012, 15 properties were purchased, including the luxury £650,000 farmhouse they live in at Butterfield Hall Farm, Plodder Lane, Bolton.

Hibbert, aged 38, was found to have given false information to obtain a mortgage on the farmhouse and used £149,000 towards the purchase price which was either all or partly the proceeds of criminal conduct.

Hibbert's business interests were said to range from running a carpet fitting business and buying and renting out property to part owning the former Tum Nuk Thai restaurant in Harwood.

He was also described as a serious gambler who had blown £307,166 between 2006 and 2012 — but the prosecution claimed that much of the cash he spent was from the proceeds of crime.

Hibbert will be sentenced on July 24.

Judge Graeme Smith granted him bail on condition that he lives at Butterfield Hall Farm, surrenders his passport, does not apply for travel documents and reports weekly to Scholey Street police station.