“I’m terrible with money”

Friday 19 October 2018

A self-confessed “wheeler dealer”, who is standing trial accused of laundering vast amounts of alleged criminal cash, told Police that she is “terrible with money”, the Royal Court has heard.

In the trial of Joanne Marie Jones (49), the court heard the transcripts of three interviews she had with Police after her arrest last year, during which she says “I’m terrible with money” and claims that she built up her £1million assets from being a “wheeler dealer”.

The trial, which began this week, is over whether Miss Jones concealed and spent money allegedly earned through drug trafficking by transferring it into UK bank accounts or investing it in property and six investment bonds. She denies all charges brought against her.

Pictured: Joanne Jones's trial is being heard in the Royal Court by Commissioner Julian Clyde-Smith and Jurats Pitman and Ramsden.

The Police interviews consisted of Miss Jones being questioned by officers regarding her finances and how she managed to accrue “assets in excess of £1million” when her day job was running the deckchair concession on St. Brelade’s beach.

The Court heard that when asked about her spending habits, Miss Jones said: “Obviously I’m terrible with money.” She explained later that she isn’t spend-happy: “I don’t seem to like spending money – I seem to collect it.”

Miss Jones described herself as a “grafter” and a “wheeler dealer” who “just like[s] the idea of having money in the bank." She also said that the deckchair concession was a very lucrative business: "Since I've been doing deckchairs I've had money coming out of my ears basically... it's a goldmine and everybody knows it's a goldmine."

Pictured: Joanne Jones described the deckchair business as a "goldmine" to explain how she had accumulated so much wealth.

The trial also heard from an expert witness for the prosecution, accountant David Sowden who had analysed Miss Jones' cash flows.

In cross-examination, he explained that his calculations had “nothing to do whatsoever whether the funds were legitimate, illegitimate or whatever”, but that he had simply worked on behalf of the prosecution to calculate the exact proportion of the funds Miss Jones used to buy the Welsh property and the investment bonds, and how much could potentially be the proceeds of drug trafficking. 

The court heard that the defence had called upon a different accountant, David Winch, to carry out the same activity. His calculations were said to have shown a smaller proportion of unexplained funds.

Pictured: The trial heard testimony from the prosecution's expert witness, accountant David Sowden, who had analysed Miss Jones's accounts.

Throughout the trial so far, the prosecution has called several witnesses to build their case against Miss Jones, whom they accuse of being a drugs dealer, including Police officers involved in the operation leading to her arrest, a convicted drugs dealer, and the property solicitor who helped the Welsh national buy a flat in Jersey.

The case continues.