A BLACK Country loan shark estimated to have made £450,000 from his illegal money lending operation has been warned he could be spending time behind bars.

Judge Dean Kershaw told 62-year-old John Guest it was important he got his affairs in order before he returned to Wolverhampton Crown Court because "prison might be the case."

Simon Mortimer, prosecuting, said Guest was making around £1,500 a week over a period of six years after setting himself up in business as a money lender.

He said Guest had worked for another company but after "moonlighting" he moved into unlawful money lending and it was accepted he had made £450,000 between 2012 and 2018.

Guest, of Redwood Avenue, Dudley, admitted two charges of unlawful money lending, another of concealing or removing

criminal property and also possessing criminal property - money.

He was remanded on bail until Friday March 29 for the preparation of a pre-sentence report, the judge warned him

all sentencing options were open.

The judge said Guest would get full credit for his guilty pleas adding that he did not know at the end of the day whether or not a custodial sentence would be imposed.

He told Guest: "I am not saying this to 'frighten you but when you come back to the court you must make sure your

affairs are in order because prison might be the case."

He further told Guest he would be facing a Proceeds of Crime Hearing in the future because the money he acquired

illegally had to be repaid.

I do not know the full details of how you benefitted from these crimes and I do not know what monies are available,

said the Judge. "This has all got to be investigated."

Stephen Hamblett, for Guest, a man of previous good character, said it was agreed his client had been making

£1,500 a week but he described the £450,000 as a "rough figure."

He told the court Guest had started in a small way in 2012 but the business gradually grew. The total figure involved

in the case, he stressed, would not be more than £450,000.