A Jamaican couple who were found guilty in the United Kingdom of operating a major money-laundering network have been slapped with prison sentences and ordered to repay nearly £1 million, or almost J$150 million, which will be shared between Jamaica and Britain.

The two — Burnett Morris and his wife Paulette — were ordered to pay back the sum following a Proceeds of Crime confiscation hearing last week at the Crown Court in London.

Burnett Morris has been asked to pay back £717,425.13, with £198,561.04 of the amount due for payment within the next six months, while his wife was ordered to pay back £191,753.00, of which £173,037.17 must be paid by the next six months.

The court heard that the couple — who were part of a money-laundering network of seven people — led a lavish lifestyle from the proceeds of their criminal activities in the UK and Jamaica.

The five others involved in the criminal network were also arrested, convicted and sentenced.

At their trial at Kingston Crown Court in May 2011, the court heard how the couple, along with other members of the network, used associates and family members to send small amounts of money, often £900 a time. Cash was sent almost daily, sometimes up to five times a day.

The Financial Investigations Division (FID) said yesterday that over a six-year period the network transferred more than £500,000. The wife, the FID said in a release yesterday, spent more than £250,000 on travel to and from Jamaica and Florida and on luxury items, including designer clothes, a diamond valued at £8,000, and other jewellery.

The British authorities liaised with the FID, which found that the couple owned two palatial residences on the outskirts of Kingston.

Members of the money-laundering network were arrested in May 2009 in south-east London and Cambridge during an operation that involved more than 100 police officers.

Burnett Morris was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years, while his wife Paulette was slapped with a sentence of four years and nine months for her part in the network.

Other members of the network were:

* Roisin Keville, who received a sentence of two years and three months;

* Fiona Holness, who will be locked away for two years;

* Dwayne Lloyd Samuel, who was sentenced to 18 months;

* Kevin Kent Robinson, who got two years in prison; and

* Gerard Dean Wright, who was sentenced to 21 months in prison.