A MOTHER of two who runs a haulage company has been jailed for 18 months for helping her husband launder £477,000 in cash stolen from criminals.

Derry Ellen Priestley, 48, led a life of luxury, enjoying holidays, fine dining, shopping sprees, and a £230,000 yacht named after her, after her husband stole cash from the Manchester criminal underworld, the court heard.

Jailing her at Sheffield Crown Court, Recorder Rachim Singh said: “You were a willing and enthusiastic participant in these offences. After spending around £500,000 you continued with your lavish lifestyle. There can be very little sympathy for you.”

Her husband, haulage driver Dean Priestley, 47, of Old Mill, Bielby, was jailed in March for three and a half years for conspiring to convert criminal property. He spent £477,000 in six months on the run, including the cruiser, a house, four cars, foreign holidays, and jewellery.

His wife, the boss of DES International Haulage in Bielby, near Market Weighton, East Yorkshire, denied conspiracy to convert criminal property but was found guilty after a trial.

The court heard she received significant cash deposits into bank accounts after her husband absconded in 2008.

Priestley, formerly of Hornsea Drive Wildsen, Bradford, told the court she was threatened by members of the Manchester underworld to reveal her husband’s whereabouts while her two sons were attacked at their home in Mill Lane, Bielby.

She said: “I got very depressed. I fled my home.”

Her barrister, Andrew Haslam, said she had debts of £75,000 and her home had been repossessed.

“She has had the benefit of the criminal conduct, but it was not her offence from the outset. She has been a victim herself having witnessed her children beaten up in front of her as a result of what their father had done.”

Recorder Singh also said she had gone against court restraining orders by attempting to sell the cruiser, and by selling a £50,000 BMW convertible her husband bought for her.

All four members of the family faces an assets recovery hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act to seize all the criminal cash which is left.