Footballer faces jail for £400,000 handover of laundered money

A former Hibs and Hearts footballer is facing jail after being caught by police with £400,000 of laundered money.

James Keatings, 33, was seen transferring boxes of cash from a van in Wishaw, Lanarkshire, in June last year after a tip-off from the National Crime Agency (NCA).

Keatings, who was on Hibs’ 2016 Scottish Cup-winning side, admitted possessing and transferring criminal property at Falkirk Sheriff Court.

The ex-striker came through the Celtic academy and has played for Dundee United, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Hamilton Academical and other Scottish clubs.

Sheriff Maryam Labaki said he had committed an “insidious crime” that “crossed the custody threshold”.

The court heard how Keatings had parked his white transit van alongside a Mercedes van on Young Street in Wishaw.

Police and officers from the NCA saw him remove “two weighty boxes from his van and put them in the rear of the Mercedes”.

A later searched of the Mercedes and found two boxes containing 78 bundles of notes totalling £390,040.

A quantity of elastic bands, which had Keatings DNA on them, were also discovered in the boxes.

The court heard that Keatings’ finger and palm prints were found in various locations on the boxes and bank notes.

Solicitor Brien Grieg, defending, said Keatings was a first offender, a father, and “a working man”.

He told police at the time of his arrest he was working as a plasterer.

Sheriff Labaki deferred sentence until 19 September for background reports, but continued Keatings’ bail in the meantime.

She said: “This is a very significant sum, and it’s an insidious crime in many ways.

“You must prepare yourself for every eventuality. You have crossed the custody threshold.”