Couriers who joined Joe Calzaghe’s glamour model ex-girlfriend in smuggling £104m of cash from the UK to Dubai face jail after being convicted of money laundering plot

•  Jo-Emma Larvin was the most high profile gang member to be convicted
• She hid the money in luggage with coffee granules and air fresheners

Couriers who helped Joe Calzaghe’s model ex-girlfriend smuggle suitcases crammed with cash from the UK to Dubai in a £104m smuggling ring are facing jail.

Jo-Emma Larvin, 44, who dated Welsh boxing champion Joe Calzaghe for six years, was the most high profile gang member to be convicted of involvement in the massive money laundering plot.

She hid the money in luggage – vacuum-packed with coffee granules and air fresheners to avoid detection – before flying it out from Heathrow to the Middle East.

Larvin made the first trip with Amy Harrison, 28, when they took £2.2m into Dubai in seven suitcases.

Her partner Jonathan Johnson, 55, travelled with her in September 2020 as they carried £2.8m using ordinary holiday items to disguise the cash stashed in eight suitcases.  

Jo-Emma Larvin, 44, hid dirty money in luggage before flying it out from Heathrow

Jo-Emma Larvin and Beatrice Auty were convicted of involvement in the massive money laundering plot

Larvin pictured with her partner Jonathan Johnson, 55, who was also accused of smuggling

Larvin’s six year relationship with former Welsh boxing legend Calzaghe ended in 2009.

Larvin denied any wrongdoing and claimed she believed she was flying out millions of pounds for the UAE Embassy.

The model said when she and her partner took the job it was the ‘worst decision’ of their lives.

Samantha Horst, 51, Bridget Jane Taylor, 43, and Craig Bramall, 42, became the latest gang members to be convicted of removing criminal property from the UK at Isleworth Crown Court.

They transported up to £500,000 in cash, concealed in suitcases, through Heathrow Airport to Dubai, a court heard.

Horst, Taylor, and Bramall will return for sentence on 22 February 2024, while Larvin was given a suspended jail sentence for her role in July this year.

Pictured: The money which was smuggled by Calzaghe’s model ex-girlfriend

Samantha Horst, 51, and two other couriers became the latest gang members to be convicted of removing criminal property from the UK at Isleworth Crown Court

Larvin and Johnson, both of Ripon, North Yorks, along with Harrison, of Worcester Park, Surrey, and Beatrice Auty, 26, of Fulham, all denied but were convicted of removing criminal property from the UK by a jury.

Larvin was sentenced to two years in jail, suspended for two years while Johnson received a 12 month sentence suspended for two years.

READ MORE – Joe Calzaghe’s glamour model ex, 43, is charged by detectives from ‘Britain’s FBI’ accused of being a ‘cash carrier’ smuggling millions of pounds in criminal cash out of the UK to Dubai

Kingpin Abdullah Alfalasi, 48, from Dubai, was arrested in December 2021 at an apartment in Lowndes Square, Belgravia, where three-bed properties sell for more than £11m.

He admitted removing criminal cash from the UK between April 3 2019 and November 3 2020 and was jailed for more than nine years in July 2022.

The total number convicted of involvement in the conspiracy so far is 14.

NCA investigators found couriers carried £104m out of the country on 83 Emirates flights from London Heathrow to Dubai.

Recruitment conulstant Tara Hanlon, 32, described as a Kim Kardashian lookalike, was locked up for nearly three years in 2022 for money laundering offences.

Auty was recruited as a courier by married mother-of-two Michelle Clarke, 42, in July 2020.

Hanlon was told to ‘reassure’ Auty, who was then added by Leeds-based mum Clarke to the ‘Sunshine and Lollipops’ WhatsApp group, set up to organise the couriers arriving in Dubai.

Clarke, who is still on the run, urged couriers to use only mobile pay-as-you-go sims and said: ‘Only use these phones for now on and delete everything from your personal phones’.

Pictured: Tara Hanlon, 32, and Michelle Clarke, 42

The model said when she and her partner took the job it was the ‘worst decision’ of their lives

The National Crime Agency released videos taken by Hanlon from her luxurious hotel in Dubai.

She wanders onto the balcony at the £500-a-night Five Palm Jumeirah hotel and says ‘Look at that view’.

Another film taken by Auty shows her laying out huge wads of notes in front of her.

READ MORE – Joe Calzaghe’s ex-girlfriend tells ‘£100m smuggling ring’ trial she was nervous about flying cash to Dubai because she thought she was working for the UAE embassy

Money laundering expert and technical adviser from HM Treasury, Lesley Hayton said coffee and air freshener had been secreted in the suitcases to put sniffer dogs off the scent of cash.

Larvin and Johnson, both of Ripon, North Yorks, along with Harrison, of Worcester Park, Surrey, and Auty, of Fulham,, all denied but were convicted of removing criminal property from the UK.

Three others, Paige Henry, 25, of Birmingham, Stacey Borg, 41, of Pudsey, West Yorkshire, and Megan Reeves, 30, will be sentenced for removing criminal property later.

Reeves was arrested alongside her friend Hanlon in October 2020, with five suitcases between them containing £2m.

At the time Reeves claimed they were going on a ‘girly holiday’ to Dubai but communications showed she intended to make 13 trips to clear debts of £39,000.

Ilyas was arrested by NCA officers at Heathrow Airport in February 2020 after arriving on a flight from Dubai.

He had checked in four suitcases at the airport ten days earlier, one of which had gone missing, and declared almost £1.5m in cash to Dubai Customs.

Pictured: The money found by Border Force officers

Larvin was sentenced to two years in jail, suspended for two years while Johnson received a 12 month sentence suspended for two years. Pictured: Larvin

The missing suitcase, containing £431,360 in cash, was later found by Border Force officers.

John Werhun of the CPS said: ‘Criminals want to find ways to hold on to their illegally gained cash and one way is to move it out of the country.

READ MORE – Joe Calzaghe’s glamour model ex-girlfriend is spared jail and walks free from court despite moving suitcases of dirty money from the UK to Dubai in £104m smuggling ring 

‘In total, the organised crime group transported a colossal quantity of cash, totalling £104million, to Dubai.

‘As cash couriers, Horst, Taylor, and Bramall were a vital part of the overall criminal enterprise and must have known or suspected the cash was derived from criminal conduct.

‘Money laundering is an essential part of organised criminality, enriching individual criminals and funding their future conduct. It serves to undermine the United Kingdom economy and has the potential to threaten our national security. it is therefore a crime that affects all of us.

‘The CPS has commenced proceedings to recover these defendants’ criminal proceeds.’

Harrison was sentenced to two years jail, suspended for two years.

But Auty was jailed for three and a half years because she had a more serious role stashing the money into suitcases and accompanying couriers to Heathrow.

Nicola Esson, 56, earlier admitted the offence and was sentenced to 22 months suspended for 24 months.

Muhammad Ilyas, 30, of Slough, who also admitted removing criminal property was sentenced to 15 months suspended for 24 months.

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