Ex-royal Pc's wife found innocent

The prosecution say some victims lost hundreds of thousands of pounds

The wife of an ex-royal protection officer accused of running a £3m betting and property scam has been cleared of all wrongdoing.

Laura Page, 42, was said to have helped her husband Paul launder money defrauded from friends and colleagues.

She was also cleared of intimidating and threatening to kill one of their victims after he spoke to police.

The court heard the case against Mr Page, from Essex, would continue with fewer charges. He denies wrongdoing.

Judge Geoffrey Rivlin QC told the jury at London's Southwark Crown Court: "She ([Ms Page] will therefore be out of the picture.

'Threats to kill'

"You will just have to accept from me that I have gone into the law and that the directions that I am to give you are my responsibility, but they are directions which you must please comply with."

The mother-of-five was then found not guilty of "being concerned in an arrangement facilitating dealings with criminal property" and cleared of one count of intimidating a former friend, Fahim Baree, and a charge of threatening to kill him.

The jury was told the case would continue against Mr Page, 38, although with "fairly substantially" reduced charges.

The ex-policeman, from Granville Road, Chafford Hundred, Grays, Essex, originally denied five counts - two of fraudulent trading, one of intimidation, threatening to take revenge and making a threat to kill.

Spiral of debt

But the judge explained to the jury he was "withdrawing" one of the fraudulent trading counts and "discharging them from returning any verdict" on the threat to kill allegation.

He said that would "help us concentrate on what really matters in this trial".

The jury has been told that Mr Page "developed a reputation for being good with money" among colleagues at the Metropolitan Police's Royal Protection Command at Buckingham Palace.

The alleged fraud involved using money from friends and colleagues for investing in property, and promising "fantastic" but unrealistically high rates of interest.

Mr Page extracted about £3m from some 57 lenders or investors, the court has heard.

But as his highly risky bets repeatedly failed and losses mounted, Mr Page was forced to use new members' investments to pay longer-standing members' interest, the court heard.

The prosecution has claimed some of those he conned lost hundred of thousands of pounds.