A 31-year-old Liverpool woman has admitted trying to smuggle almost £48,000 in criminal money off the island in a car.

Amanda Patricia Done appeared before magistrates on Thursday and pleaded guilty to attempting to remove criminal property from the island.

She will be sentenced at the Court of General Gaol Delivery on a date to be set.

Prosecuting advocate Roger Kane told the court that customs officers at the Sea Terminal in Douglas saw Done in a Fiat Punto about to leave the island on October 25.

She was stopped for a routine check, and when asked about her visit, Done said she had been to the island for four days to see a man.

She was searched and she was found with three lots of money – two in bags and a third stash hidden in her car as she tried to board the ferry.

The total cash found amounted to £47,894 of criminal property.

Done told the customs officers: ‘It’s cash, I sold a car.’

Mr Kane said that the starting point for sentencing in the guidelines was 18 months’ custody, which with a third off for a guilty plea, would bring it down to 12 months.

The prosecutor submitted that the case was therefore suitable for sentencing in the summary court, but would have to go to the Court of General Gaol Delivery, as a confiscation order for the cash could only be made there.

Done was represented by advocate Lawrie Gelling, who agreed that sentencing could have taken place in the lower court, had it not been for the confiscation order.

A bail application was made by Ms Gelling, who said that Done was the primary carer for her two children, had mental health issues, and had a council property which she would be in danger of losing if she was held in custody.

Bail was opposed by the prosecution, with Mr Kane saying that one of Done’s children was in the car at the time of the offence, and the prosecution would say that this was to act as a deliberate decoy.

Mr Kane said that Done had given no account in two police interviews, so it was not known what she was involved in and whether there were organised crime elements.

Magistrates refused bail and remanded Done, who lives at Aspes Road in Liverpool, in custody.

On Friday, Done appeared at the Court of General Gaol Delivery via video link where her defence advocate Louise Cooil told the court her client would be submitting a basis of plea.

Deemster Graeme Cook said he wanted to deal with the matter as quickly as possible and set the case down for sentencing on Friday, November 15.

Done was remanded in custody at the Isle of Man prison in the meantime.