HE seemed to be a pillar of the rural community, running several businesses and living on a country estate.

But Ian David Smith, 67, is today behind bars as a self-confessed big-time money launderer for professional criminals after he “risked everything in exchange for money”.

He was jailed for two years for using his firms to launder more than £500,000 for crooks, including a gang of convicted tobacco smugglers and a prolific mortgage fraudster.

The businessman, who lives on a £3 million farmhouse estate at Cropton, near Pickering, must also hand over to the public purse £199,500 that he gained through crime and pay £75,000 prosecution costs.

He was banned from being a company director or receiver for five years.

Judge Simon James told him at Canterbury Crown Court: “Without people like you, criminals would not be able to hide their profits, and you fell prey to temptation”.

Smith pleaded guilty to money laundering.

Martin Brown, assistant director for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, said: “Ian Smith helped career criminals launder their illicit gains.

“He risked everything in exchange for money and as a result is paying the price for becoming involved in the criminal underworld.

“Money laundering is a serious crime and Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs is committed to tackling the movement of criminal profit.

“Money is the lifeblood of crime and we will look to prosecute anyone involved in helping to hide dirty cash.”

After a lengthy investigation, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs discovered that Smith provided the criminals with fake invoices as he put their money through his company books to make it look as though they had paid for goods.

He would later return the money, minus his fee for the transaction.

Smith’s businesses include Beckhouse Carriages, based in Stockton-upon-Tees, which provided horse and carriage outfits for weddings, funeral, feature films and television dramas and a luxury cottage rental business based in Cropton.

He was arrested in September 2007 during a Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs investigation and pleaded guilty in May this year.