TWO witnesses gave evidence yesterday in the trial of a Griffithstown ice-cream vendor and a Cwmbran woman charged with laundering money raised by selling counterfeit cigarettes.

Sara Skinner, 44, of Oakleigh Court, Cwmbran, is on trial at Newport Crown Court charged with eight counts of converting criminal property, said to be contraband cigarettes and tobacco, over a four-year period to fund her “lavish lifestyle.”

Simon Leighton, 42, of Maple Road South Griffithstown, who is on trial with Skinner, is charged with one count of becoming concerned in money laundering, said to be the proceeds of selling counterfeit cigarettes and tobacco from his ice cream van.

Both have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The court heard evidence from Andrew Williams, the proprietor of Williams Motor Company, Cardiff, which sold a red Porsche Boxster to Skinner and her husband, Mark, on July 26 2011.

Mr Williams said he remembered the couple arriving at his showroom in a red BMW convertible three series and said they bought the Porsche from him for £8,049. He said around a year later Skinner contacted him to see if he wanted to buy the car back as they didn’t use it much. He confirmed that he later decided to buy the car back but had had no further dealings with them.

PC Jordan Williams giving evidence said on June 5, 2012 he and a colleague attended a house on Chapel Street, Cwmbran, where they found Leighton loading a cardboard box full of cigarettes into the back of a Ford Focus.

Leighton told police the cigarettes had come from the house in question.

PC Williams and his colleague searched the house where they found around 11 brown cardboard boxes full of cigarettes, which they seized and sent to trading standards.

Prosecutor Matthew Cobbe told the court on Tuesday that the approximate retail value of the cigarettes was £40,000 and the tobacco was £3,500.

The court was also told that Leighton was allegedly selling the counterfeit cigarettes from his ice cream van over this period.

Mr Cobbe said Skinner and her late husband had used the money from selling “thousands” of counterfeit Regal cigarettes as well as counterfeit Golden Virginia tobacco, to fund a lifestyle that was far in excess of their means.

Proceeding.