AN EAST Lancashire solicitor accused of laundering drugs cash appeared in court yesterday.
Basil Dearing was before Preston magistrates charged with four offences relating to the transfer of the proceeds of drug trafficking.
Dearing, a senior partner at SFN Solicitors, in Red Lion Street, Burnley, and a former president of Burnley and Pendle Law Society, spoke only to confirm his name and personal details. He did not enter a plea.
The 60-year-old, of Lower Chapel Lane, Grindleton, near Clitheroe, was given unconditional bail to appear before Preston Crown Court on April 29. Noel Tully, a 36-year-old legal representative with Brian Jackson and Co Solicitors in Liverpool, also appeared separately, charged with three matters relating to the transfer of the proceeds of drug trafficking.
Tully, of Liverpool, was also given unconditional bail to appear before Preston Crown Court on April 29.
A third defendant, solicitor John Broughton, 53, of John Broughton Solicitors in Keighley, West Yorkshire, did not attend court.
He has been charged with money laundering offences and is due to appear before the same court on April 21.
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