by Paul Hooper

A dealer jailed in THREE countries has been sent back to prison - for laundering drugs cash with his daughter.

Derek Rosser, 63, claimed he got involved in the scam to help his daughter who had been injured in an accident at work.

But Canterbury Crown Court heard casino worker Nicola Rosser, 36, also took part in the crooked exchange deals by exchanging sterling into Euros.

Both were arrested after police kept watch on Derek Rosser's home at Waterways Caravan Park in Reculver, Herne Bay, in June last year.

Officers spotted him exchanging a bag with a man who arrived in a Mercedes - and he later got into his own car with his daughter.

Police stopped the vehicle on the Thanet Way and found the bag with £93,622 inside.

Officers also found receipts proving Nicola had, on three occasions, converted £18,500 into Euros at a Bureau De Change.

Prosecutor Jonathan Ingram said: "Rosser is a person who has a record for drugs offences... international drugs offences.

"In February 1990 he was jailed for three years in Belgium and for four years in Spain in 1994.

"He was also jailed for four years in 1998 in London for possessing cannabis with intent to supply."

His daughter, of King Street, Margate, pleaded guilty to three charges of converting criminal property.

She was given an eight month jail sentence suspended for two years, placed under a six month curfew order and ordered to pay £250 costs.

Simon Taylor, for Derek Rosser, said he had stayed out of trouble since being released from jail in 2000 and moved from London to Kent to get away from his drugs past.

He said in 2007 Nicola - who arrived in the dock with the aid of a walking stick - had suffered a serious fall at work suffered a back problem.

"He decided to return to crime to make his daughter's life easier and he now bitterly regrets dragging her into this illegal enterprise."

Rosser, who admitted six offences, was jailed for two years. Police also seized a blue cash box containing £4,000 in Sterling and £2,000 in Euros from his home after his arrest.

The court heard how casino employee Nicola had used her training in money laundering from her job in a casino to her advantage, working closely alongside her father.

Detective Sergeant David Ecuyer, from Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, led the investigation and is delighted with the result.

He said: "This investigation concerns a known criminal with previous convictions for the importation of drugs and his daughter, a woman who because of her employment in a casino, has benefited from training into money laundering.

"This combination means that these offenders knew very well what they were doing and the amount of cash concerned is a significant amount.

"Both have been given ample opportunity to give a plausible explanation for their actions but have elected to remain silent.

"International drug trafficking is a profitable business and the laundering of the proceeds will form an integral part of the criminality concerned, especially when assisted by professional enablers such as Nicola Rosser.

"If the harm to the community through drug abuse is to be abated, it will in part be by making the trafficking a less profitable enterprise."