Last updated at 16:25, Wednesday, 13 March 2013

A DRUG dealer has been ordered to pay more than £86,000 within six months or face time in jail.

The Barrow man was convicted for drugs offences and has been ordered to pay thousands or face a year in jail.

During the hearing at Barrow Crown Court on Friday, 49-year-old Stephen Taylor, of Hall Garth, Barrow, was found to have benefited from his criminality to the tune of £86,995.50. He was ordered to pay this amount within six months or he would be jailed for 12 months.

Taylor was handed a suspended jail sentence in July last year for possessing drugs with intent to supply.

In July 2011, police officers searched Taylor’s home, where 16 cannabis plants were found along with cultivation equipment.

A further search of the premises saw police recover quantities of various powders which were found to contain the Class B controlled drug, mephedrone. Other class B and class C drugs were also seized.

Detective Constable Nick Doherty, a financial investigator from Cumbria police said: “This case should make people think twice before getting involved in crime as a way to make money.

“Although Taylor received a suspended prison sentence back in July, under the Proceeds of Crime Act there is now a very real chance that if he does not pay £86,995.50 within the six-month period ordered by the court he will go to prison for a year.

“A police investigation isn’t over when criminals are sentenced in court. We continue to tackle criminals and work hard to reclaim the money that they have gained from their crimes through the Proceeds of Crime Act in order give it back to their victims or the community they’ve affected.

“Taylor will now be stripped of a substantial amount of cash that he had acquired illegally and if he fails to pay, he will have to spend a year of his life in prison. Crime doesn’t pay and police will continue to work very closely with partner agencies to ensure that criminals are targeted and any financial gain they make as a result of their crimes is seized.”

First published at 16:20, Wednesday, 13 March 2013
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk