AN OSWESTRY salon owner who helped launder around £800,000 cash from drugs production is disputing the amount she is being asked to pay back under a Proceeds of Crime Order.

Maxine Knott received a 14-month prison sentence last September for her part in an operation masterminded by her partner Simon King which saw the profits from a large cannabis farm on the Bromfield Industrial Estate in Mold funnelled through her business and personal accounts.

The Crown made orders against King and his accomplice, Lee Alexander, who are serving sentences of six years four months and four years respectively.

But at Mold Crown Court barrister, Saleema Mahmood, said Knott was disputing the £7,750 she was being asked to fork out.

She was found guilty of passing large sums through her Oswestry-based business Gorgeous Hair and Beauty Salon.

She claimed she thought the cash was coming from King’s business, Halcyon Furniture, a bespoke furniture enterprise whose registered address was the industrial unit where police discovered 329 cannabis plants with a street value between £149,000 and £365,000 and hi-tech equipment.

King, who was described at his conviction as the “instigator” behind the operation, was ordered to pay back £8,709 by Judge Niclas Parry.

At their previous hearing King and Knott were said to have enjoyed a lavish lifestyle with two Mercedes cars, a Bentley and a Range Rover parked at their rental property, Abbotsmoor Farm at West Felton.

Now, the court was told King is selling two of the vehicles to meet the Proceeds of Crime Order and he has three months to do so.

Alexander was given a month to pay £13,664 back.

King, 46, of Rhydloes Mill, Llansilin, and Alexander, 34, of Silkmoor Lane, Stafford both admitted conspiring to produce and supply cannabis between December 2011 and January 2017.

They also pleaded guilty to converting criminal property namely £806,586.13 cash knowing it was the proceeds of criminal conduct between December 2011 and March 2017.

Knott, 50, also of Rhydloes Mill, Llansilin denied converting criminal property but was found guilty after a trial.