Crown goes after dealer’s assets

Prosecutors are lining up an assets’ blitz on a convicted drug dealer.

Paul Black, 50, was jailed for two years after he was snared with Class B drugs amphetamine and cannabis worth almost £ 20,000, as well as more than £10,000 in readies and another €1,300 in bank notes.

Paisley Sheriff Court heard Black, of Gallacher Avenue in the town’s Foxbar area, and another man, had been involved in the supply of drugs at his address and at another property in Bridge of Weir, when they were raided by cops.

Yesterday the accused appeared in the dock as a part of a confiscation hearing under tough proceeds of crime legislation.

His lawyer said he wanted to call in a forensic expert as part of Black’s defence at a special hearing expected within the next two weeks.

Depute fiscal Colin Wilson agreed to the defence motion and said the Crown was ready for the case to proceed to the next stage.

Black had pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of controlled drugs amphetamine and cannabis, at Gallacher Avenue, Paisley and at Gryffe Grove, Bridge of Weir, on June 11 and 12 2016.

The accused, who claimed he was employed as a carer, looking after his elderly parents, had funded his “unusual lifestyle” by getting legacies and being handed gifts of cash from rich relatives, as well as “saving up” his Carers’ Allowance.

Sheriff Susan Sinclair acceded to both sides’ requests and ordered the confiscation hearing to continue on August 10.