BUSINESSMAN Karl Hession has been jailed for 12 months after he laundered cash which professional conmen had stolen from wealthy Barclays bank customers.

The 29-year-old, of Banbury Grove, Biddulph, was convicted of acquiring criminal property and was jailed for 12 months at Southwark Crown Court in London yesterday.

Cashier Moahmmed Iqbal, aged 30, of Kipling Place, Stanmore, was the main player in a group of Barclays bank workers who tried to steal more than £1 million from wealthy account holders. He was jailed for five years.

He conned customers at the Sloane Square branch of Barclays in central London between August and November 2007.

Along with fellow cashier Tommy Jackman and personal banker Chikezie Emeruem, he set up huge cash transfers while businessman Naresh Patwari laundered the cash or wired it abroad.

Judge Anthony Pitts said corruption and the abuse of trust lay at the heart of the case. Jackman, aged 24, of Southampton Place, Bloomsbury, was jailed for four-and-a-half years. Emeruem, aged 33, of Church Lane, Adel, Leeds, was jailed for three-and-a-half years, and Patwari, aged 50, of Selbourne Road, New Malden, Surrey, was sentenced to two years in jail.