By Alasdair Fraser

Copyright inverness-courier

A former Caley Thistle footballer has been jailed for just over a year for attempting to launder almost £400,000 in criminal cash.

James Keatings (33) was ensnared after being trailed by investigators from the Organised Crime Partnership, a joint unit made up of National Crime Agency and Police Scotland officers.

At around 2.30 pm on June 28 last year, they watched the former Celtic, Hearts and Hibs forward, from Ryde Road in Wishaw, remove two boxes from the back of his white transit van and place them in the back of a second van before driving away.

The second van was stopped and searched by officers and two boxes were discovered in its rear containing 78 bundles of notes up to a total of £390,040.

A forensic examination of the money and the boxes found that Keatings’ fingerprints were on a number of areas including the money, the boxes and the elastic bands keeping the notes together.

He appeared at Falkirk Sheriff Court on August 20, where he pleaded guilty to possessing and transferring criminal property.

He was sentenced to 13 months imprisonment at the same court today (Friday, September 19).

NCA regional head of investigations Ian Thomas said: “James Keatings moved hundreds of thousands of pounds in suspected criminal funds but what he didn’t know was OCP officers were watching his every move.

“The NCA will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to bring offenders like Keatings to justice and disrupt offenders and their criminality, wherever there is an opportunity to do so.”

Detective Chief Inspector Laura Sands, of the Organised Crime and Counter Terrorism Unit, said: “This investigation underlines our commitment to the Serious Organised Crime Taskforce and the country’s Serious Organised Crime Strategy.

“We will continue to work with our partner agencies to tackle this type of criminal activity and ensure those responsible face justice.

“Information and support from the public is vital to our work and I would encourage anyone with information relating to organised crime to contact us through 101.”

Keatings left Celtic in 2013 after failing to make a first team breakthrough, but built a successful full-time career at clubs including Hamilton, Hearts, Dundee United and Hibs.

At Hibs he won a Scottish Cup and Scottish Championship double.

He joined Caley Thistle in May 2019 on two-year pre-contract deal.

Keatings is remembered as a success at the Inverness club but made his biggest headlines after being sent off with a second yellow card for diving in the Scottish Challenge Cup semi-final win over Rangers Under-21s.

There was such a media fuss in the aftermath, that then BBC sports presenter Gary Lineker was among those who leapt to his defence.

The ban was eventually lifted by the SFA.

Before and during his time at the Caledonian Stadium he also spoke publicly about his battle against depression and mental health issues.