A pensioner has been sentenced after joining a money-laundering scheme in a bid to make "easy money".

James Tominey, 65, from Lennoxtown, fewer than 10 miles from Glasgow, took in £20,000 of criminal funds into his bank account before attempting to withdraw £10,000 the same day.

The incident unfolded on March 31, 2021, when Tominey received the five-figure fee in his HSBC account.

He then visited his local bank branch to withdraw half that amount in cash.

When questioned by staff about the size of the deposit, Tominey claimed the money came from a redundancy package from a recruitment company.

James Tominey was sentenced for his role in the money-laundering scheme at Glasgow Sheriff Court

But his withdrawal request was declined when he told employees he had "forgot" his identification.

The transaction was reported to the bank's fraud team for investigation.

Within 20 minutes of leaving the bank, Tominey used online banking to transfer £9,000 to a woman who also lived in Lennoxtown.

Tominey was arrested two weeks after the incident and provided his version of events to police.

Prosecutor Darren Harty told the court that Tominey "became involved under the pretence of easy money".

Within 20 minutes of leaving the bank, Tominey used online banking to transfer £9,000 to a woman

Defence solicitor Tracey Mulholland said her client stood to receive just £300 from his participation in the scheme.

"Tominey said that he was naive and was making poor decisions," she told the court.

"Both he and the woman were in the scheme willingly and knew what he was doing was wrong."

The 65-year-old has now been sentenced to electronic tagging, having earlier pleaded guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court to possession of £20,000 of criminal property and transferring £9,000 of criminal funds.

Tominey has been slapped with an electronic tagging order and a curfew (file photo)

He was sentenced to 20 weeks of electronic monitoring with a curfew between 7pm and 7am.

Sheriff Vincent Lunny, who imposed the electronic tagging order, said: "This was a serious matter and in my view the custodial threshold has been passed."

"This is not a victimless crime - the handling of this money is a serious matter without which these gangs cannot operate.

"I suspect that this was drug money... This has not been confirmed either way but it was a significant scheme and is a serious blight on life in Scotland."