A 42-year-old tax adviser has been jailed for three years after being convicted of money laundering at the end of a six-week long trial.

Neil Hamilton Macpherson, of Dunmow Road, Great Bardfield, set up bank accounts and fronted companies involved in missing trader intra-community frauds, orchestrated across Europe by a French national, Michel Namer.

These frauds were an attack on the VAT systems of France, Italy and Spain.

Between 2004 and 2006, fraudulent payments totalling more than £35 million passed through bank accounts in the UK and Monaco which Macpherson controlled on behalf of Namer.

Macpherson is a qualified taxation adviser and was previously a tax partner at two large and respected London accountancy firms before setting up his own practice, Salmac Management Limited, in 2004.

Macpherson was running Salmac Management Limited when he agreed to act as Namer's "frontman", allowing him anonymity from various law enforcement agencies across Europe while perpetrating frauds against their taxation systems.

Macpherson was convicted on four out of five charges of money laundering.

Namer is currently serving a six-year prison sentence for frauds carried out in the UK. He has also been convicted of similar offences in Belgium.