A Worcestershire pub has closed after the building was found to be at the centre of a major fraud.

Police discovered two men who owned the Hadley Bowling Green in Hadley Heath, near Droitwich, in 2007, had bought the pub for £1.2 million with cash from drugs.

Accountant Malcolm Carle, aged 57, of Wilmslow, and his boss Walter Callinan, 59, were jailed recently at Winchester Crown Court.

A spokesman from the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) said Carle bought the pub with money from Callinan’s drug deals.

He said: “The pub was subsequently used as security on a loan which is now in dispute. The pub has been restrained, or frozen, by the court.”

He said Debbie Riley, a former manager of the pub, was also due in court with Carle and Callinan but failed to turn up.

A warrant was issued for her arrest.

Carle took out the loan against the pub in June 2007 and the pub was advertised as being in voluntary liquidation in October 2007.

The pub, which had been shut, was reopened in July this year by Paul Clark and David Butcher, directors of HBG (Hadley Bowling Green) pub company in conjunction with Powder Train, a firm which Mr Butcher set up with businessman Jack Bowyer.

There is no suggestion they were connected with Carle or Callinan. The pub closed after it was frozen by the court.

A man from accountancy firm Hayhursts, who refused to be named, given as a contact for both HBG pub company and Powder Train, said the HBG pub company no longer existed.

He said: “The HBG pub company operated it on behalf of whoever owned it for four months and they no longer do so. I believe the pub is closed.”

A message left on the pub answerphone said it was closed until further notice due to “circumstances beyond our control”.

Carle, of Overhill Drive, was jailed for six years after admitting three money laundering offences.

Callinan, who lived in Malaga, Spain, and had a Cheltenham office, was jailed for 11 years for two drug-dealing offences, five counts of money laundering and two passport offences. Five others were jailed for drug offences.

The 16th-century pub was rumoured to be a meeting place for Guy Fawkes.