THREE people used betting machines in bookmakers and a bingo hall to launder money stolen in robbery on a security guard.

The guard was targeted outside the Asda supermarket in Hartlepool and a canister containing £50,000 was stolen in the hold-up.

Two men and a woman from County Durham were caught on CCTV using gaming machines in Darlington just more than a week later.

Each of the trio were given suspended prison sentences yesterday (MON) after they admitted charges of converting criminal property.

A judge said the gain for Sarah Boddy, Darren Harper, and Jonathan Liddle would have been as little as "a few hundred pounds".

Prosecutor Stephen Littlewood told Teesside Crown Court: "When a cash canister is breached, dye is released onto the notes.

"This makes them all but impossible to spend across a counter. The defendants put the dyed notes into the machines. At the time of these offences, gambling machines in betting shops couldn't detect the dye.

"They were able to launder the money because at the end of a gaming session, the machines issue a receipt for the gamer's closing balance.

"The receipt can then be exchanged for cash from the cashier's desk."

The trio were seen on footage from Ladbrokes and Coral betting shops, and on footage from a Gala bingo hall in Darlington.

Boddy, 31, of Eldon Bank, Harper, 27, of Spencer Street, and Liddle, 24, all Bishop Auckland, admitted concealing and converting criminal property between August and September, 2014.

Lawyers for the three said neither of the them had been involved in the robbery, and told the court they are "lightly convicted".

Judge Howard Crowson sentenced each to 20 weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months. Boddy and Harper were ordered to do 80 hours of community work, and Liddle was given an eight-week curfew.

The judge told the three: "This money was taken in a cash in transit robbery, it has dye on it, and you were asked to launder it.

"The amount involved for each of you was a few hundred pounds, "Sentencing guidelines for that amount suggest a starting point of 20 weeks in custody.

"I am prepared to suspend the sentence, partly due to the age of the offence and because you have since moved on with your lives.

"But your barristers will tell you when I suspend a sentence, it means just that.

"Commit any other offence or fail to comply with any of the orders made today, and you can expect to serve the suspended period."

Police inquires into the robbery are continuing.