AN internet scam run by the Russian mafia has fleeced a Herefordshire nursing home out of thousands of pounds.

The investigation put a Hereford detective on the trail of an elusive international master criminal who has since vanished into cyberspace.

Not even a trawl of the world's anti-terrorist databases could find a trace of the shadowy suspect known as "Sharapov".

But one of his unwitting middlemen appeared at Hereford Crown Court last Friday where the plot worthy of a bestseller unfolded.

The court heard how around £12,000 was electronically siphoned from an on-line bank account belonging to the Glendaph Nursing Home, Kingsland, and routed through several other accounts before being sent to St Petersburg, Russia. There, the mysterious Mr Sharapov - or someone working for him - is thought to have drawn out the money in his name and disappeared.

A password was used to get into the Glendaph account and the money was only discovered missing during an audit in January last year.

Stephen Davies, prosecuting, said that on its way to St Petersburg, some £3,000 of the Glendaph money passed through a bank account belonging to Paul Evans, who was traced to an address in County Durham. The court heard that Evans received an out-of-the-blue e-mail from Russia asking if he was willing to let his account be used to shift sums around the world on-line for payment.

Evans, in heavy debt and desperate, agreed.

He admitted a money-laundering charge and was ordered to complete 300 hours of community work.

His Honour Judge Cleary said Evans, aged 51 and with a clean record, made an ideal "mule" for cyber-criminals behind the scam.