Kim Kardashian wannabe, 30, admits smuggling over £5m cash after suitcases busted open

A Kim Kardashian wannabe caught smuggling £1.9m out of the UK had already shifted millions to Dubai.

Tara Hanlon, 30, faces seven years in prison after pleading guilty in court on Thursday to money laundering offences.

The crook whose gran said wanted to look like Kim Kardashian, was told to bring a bag for jail at her sentencing on July 26.

Border Force busted Hanlon at Heathrow Airport on October 3 as she attempted to board a flight to Dubai with five suitcases stacked with cash.

The staggering haul of cash officials confiscated was described by the National Crime Agency, as “the largest such detection at the border so far in 2020”.

Photos released of the £1.9m show wads of £20 and £10 notes as well as foreign currency.

Hanlon from Leeds, explained to pals beforehand that her trip to the Middle East was for a “lucrative” new public relations job, The Sun reports.

Appearing at Isleworth Crown Court via video link, the 30-year-old admitted three counts of removing criminal property, relating to cash amounts of £1.4m on July 14, £1.1m on August 10 and £1m on August 31 2020.

She also admitted guilt for trying to remove £1.9m in criminal property from the UK when she was handcuffed.

However according to BBC News Hanlon denied one charge of conspiracy to remove criminal property from England and Wales between July 13 and October 4 last year.

Appearing in the London court from Leeds via video-link, she was wearing a light blue suit jacket over a white top, with her black hair tied up in a ponytail, The Sun reported.

Judge Giles Curtis-Raleigh said to Hanlon: “You must attend this court early on 26 July, obviously it will be a prison sentence you must be ready for that, bring a bag.

“The temptation may be not to attend on that day because know what is going to happen, but that would be a very grave error.

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“That would be a further serious criminal offence for which there would be consecutive prison sentence which would be much worse, the judge will listen carefully to what (Stephen) Grattage says on your behalf.”

Before Hanlon admitted her guilt, her grandmother Maureen Downs, 80, told the MailOnline : “I know my granddaughter and she would never do anything like what she is accused of. She has a heart of gold.

“She is a lovely girl and she had never, ever been in in trouble.”

Ms Downs added: “I can’t sleep and I hope I am going to wake up from this nightmare.

“She was into partying. She liked a bit of glamour did Tara.

“She wanted to look like that [Kim] Kardashian woman and she had her lips done like her.”