A former Scottish professional footballer caught carrying out a £400,000 money laundering handover has been jailed.
James Keatings, 33, transported heavy boxes of crime cash in a white Transit van while working as a plasterer.
The 33-year-old, once on the books as a forward for clubs including Celtic, Hearts and Hibs, admitted possessing and transferring criminal property.
Falkirk Sheriff Court heard he had been drawn into crime after a hip injury at the age of 27 left him in chronic pain and he began to play at lower and lower levels in the game before quitting altogether and learning a trade.Tony Graham, KC, defending, said: ‘It represented a considerable deterioration in his ability to earn and a consequent deterioration in his lifestyle.’
Mr Graham said the hip problem was coupled with a deterioration in his mental health after having had to abandon his football career.
The KC said: ‘He was medicated with various prescription painkillers but he did not consider they were sufficient to alleviate the pain.
‘An opportunity arose to be paid in medication for performing a service for moving this sum of money.’
Keatings was arrested after a tip-off to the National Crime Agency about a large dirty cash handover to take place in Wishaw, Lanarkshire.
Former Celtic and Hibernian player James Keatings was jailed for more than a year
James Keatings, left, was part of the Hibs team that won the Scottish Cup in 2016
The court heard police officers lay wait on June 28, 2024, and Keatings was observed removing ‘two weighty boxes’ from his Ford Transit van and placing them in the rear of a white Mercedes van he had parked next to.
The driver of the Mercedes was subsequently arrested in Dollar, Clackmannanshire, and inside the van police officers found the two boxes containing 78 bundles of cash, which totalled £390,040.
Also in the boxes were a quantity of elastic bands, which turned out to have Keatings’ DNA on them.
Keatings’ finger and palm prints were also found in various locations on the outside of both boxes and on the inside of the second box. His fingerprints were found on some of the bank notes.
Sheriff Christopher Shead jailed Keatings for 13 and a half months. He will face further proceedings next month under the Proceeds of Crime Act to seize the criminal cash.
