AN ILLEGAL motorist whose car was stopped by police on the M6 near Carlisle later returned to the scene, where officers then found a McDonald’s bag stuffed with cash.

The discovery of the discarded cash - estimated to be about £12,000 - was outlined for magistrates in Carlisle as a financial investigator from Cumbria Constabulary applied for more time to continue investigating.

The first hint of something suspicious came at 11.10am on Thursday, June 20, when police in an unmarked vehicle became suspicious of a southbound Ford Focus.

When the officers positioned their car behind the Ford Focus, the driver moved his car on to the hard shoulder and began speeding up, overtaking a bus that was travelling on the inside lane, said the investigator.

Just before reaching Southwaite Services, the officers managed to stop the car, which they decided to check due to the manner of driving. They did this under powers from the Misuse of Drugs Act.

“Nothing was recovered from the vehicle,” the investigator told magistrates.

“But checks showed that the driver had no driving licence and was not insured to drive so the officers seized the vehicle. Immigration checks showed that the man had twice applied for asylum.

“They ruled against him but he was being allowed to stay in Middlesborough while they had a third go.”

With no legal grounds for continuing to detain the man, the police officers released him. Two hours later, an officer in an unmarked police car saw a man on the hard shoulder in the same location where the car was stopped.

“It was the same man who was driving the Ford Focus,” said the investigator. “He'd gone back to the same place and was standing behind the barrier on the hard shoulder.

“When he was asked what he was doing, he said he was looking for a ring; he said he had dropped it during the earlier incident.” The police officers involved in the earlier stop were called back to the scene.

“They searched the area and found a McDonald’s paper bag and inside it was a plastic bag, containing roughly £12,000 in cash.”

The suspect driver appeared to have scratches on his arms.

The investigator said the injuries were probably the result of him searching for the bag in the roadside undergrowth.

“He said he knew nothing about the money the officers found and insisted that he had been looking for his lost ring,” added the investigator.

After hearing those details, magistrates ruled that there are grounds for believing the cash was “criminal property” and Cumbria Police can continue to hold the money for three months while officers continue to investigate.

Magistrates make decisions on such Proceeds of Crime application on the balance of probabilities. The driver involved did not attend the court hearing.