The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Drug dealer to pay back £26k proceeds
A DRUG dealer has been ordered to pay more than £ 6,000 he made while peddling cocaine and heroin on city streets.
Deon Brown (30) was jailed for a total of 54 months last year after pleading guilty to four counts of supplying class A drugs and eight counts of being concerned in supplying class A drugs, relating to the sale of crack cocaine and heroin in Peterborough.
Yesterday Brown returned to court, where a Proceeds of Crime Act application was made to reclaim the money he gained from his drug dealing.
The court was told Brown benefited from his crimes by £26,025.44 and he also had assets of £311.91 related to his offending - a total of £26,337.35.
Judge Nic Madge said the entire sum would have to be paid to the court within 28 days, or Brown faces another seven days prison in default.
When the money is recovered from Brown’s bank accounts it will be paid to the Government.
Brown, of Mansel Court, London, was snared by police as part of Operation Riptide, a large operation designed to rid Peterborough’s streets of illegal and addictive class A drugs.
When he was sentenced in October last year, Peterborough Crown Court heard Brown sold both heroin and crack cocaine when he made trips to Peterborough from the capital.
After his arrest, officers discovered a number of text messages on different mobile phones belonging to him showing his links to drug dealing.
Following the order made by the court, Peterborough MP Stewart Jackson said the move would act as a deterrent to other dealers, and the powers to reclaim money should be used more often.
Mr Jackson said: “We need to remember that the most powerful deterrent to drug dealers is a long stretch in prison.
“But courts should use these powers more often so persistent drug dealers are punished by having their all their assets built up from illegal and immoral means taken off them.
“We should hit them where it hurts - in their pockets.”
In October, a total of 28 dealers were brought in front of the courts and sentenced for their part in selling class A drugs, including heroin and crack cocaine, on the city streets.
They were caught out when they sold drugs to undercover police officers, working to take the dealers off the streets as part of Operation Riptide.
Like Brown, many of the dealers travelled from London to take advantage of the trade on Peterborough streets.
Police then used covert evidence gathered during the operation to swoop on suspects.