Prosecutors say Busby collected the cash while working for Gary Hardy's GH Properties company, a portfolio of 24 houses across Ashfield, before he paid the money into Gary Hardy's two bank accounts.

Carl Busby (45), of Forest Road, is accused of laundering the cash on behalf of Gary Hardy before depositing the money into two of Hardy's bank accounts between May 2003 and December 2006.

He is alleged to have driven across the East Midlands to collect the drugs money and deposited £1.1m into Hardy's property portfolio bank account and a further £400,000 into his personal bank account.

Witness Dale Arnold, who was a director at Hardy's Apex Windows until it went into liquidation in early 2004, described how Busby had collected the cash.

He said: "On Fridays I would see Busby with a diary. He would make entrants into the diary about money he had collected from rents.

"He marked rents as being collected against properties which were empty. Apex had carried work out on these properties so I knew they were vacant."

The evidence was being given during the trial of an alleged Ashfield-based drugs gang led by Mansfield's Gary Hardy.

But Busby's defence team rejected the allegations and told the jury the money was for legitimate rent collections of a substantial portfolio of GH properties.

During this time, Busby –– who had worked for Hardy at Birchwood Motors –– was also on the pay role of Apex Windows and was paid £1,745 for his work between April 2003 and October 2003.

Gary Hardy, of The Copse, Mansfield, and his brother Paul Hardy (47), of Kirkby, deny one charge of conspiracy to supply heroin, one charge of conspiracy to supply cocaine, one charge of conspiracy to supply amphetamines and four counts of conspiracy to supply cannabis between 1st January 2000 and 5th January 2007.

The brothers' mum June Muers (66), of Pearl Avenue, Kirkby, also deny one charge of conspiracy to supply amphetamines and two charges of conspiracy to supply cannabis between 1st January 2003 and 5th January 2007.

Both Gary Hardy and Clipstone man Carl Busby (45), of Forest Road, also deny money laundering charges between 1st April 2003 and 4th January 2007.

Gary Hardy also denies a separate charge of having £14,000-worth of cash gained through criminal activities in his possession on 23rd May 2003.

Gary and Paul Hardy, of Willow Avenue, Kirkby, along with Muers, all deny a further charge of possessing criminal property on 4th January 2007.

Kirkby woman Zoe Chapman, of Willow Avenue - Paul Hardy's former partner - also faces three charges of conspiracy to supply amphetamines and cannabis between 1st January 2000 and 5th January 2007.