Former gang leader to pay back £1,700 of his drug dealing enterprise

A FORMER Derby gang leader who claimed to have turned his back on crime before being jailed for dealing drugs has been ordered to pay back less than £2,000.

A Proceeds of Crime Act hearing held over Skype at Derby Crown Court was told Carlos Grant made more than £11,500 from his crimes.

But analysis of his finances by investigating officers has concluded that apart from £1,700 already seized from him and held by Derbyshire police he does not have a penny to his name.

On hearing that evidence, Judge Nirmal Shant QC ordered that amount be surrendered by the former A1 leader, who two weeks ago had his 35th birthday behind bars.

She said: “I find that the benefit figure was £11,657.87 and the available assets are £1,710.60 already held by the police. I know the money is already in the possession of the police but I have to set a default payment period and that is three months.”

This means Grant has three months to pay the cash or face more jail time.

Grant was jailed for four years in November 2019 for dealing drugs.

In 2009, a court convicted him of ordering the shooting of a man in Allenton. At the time, he ran what police called Derby’s most violent criminal gang – the A1 crew – and he was jailed for 10 years.

In June 2019, Grant appeared on the BBC East Midlands Today show where he shook hands with the senior officer who masterminded his downfall and 10-year jail term.

In the TV programme he was described by former Derbyshire police detective Andy Hough as once being “about as dangerous as you can get”.

In an interview, Grant told how without being sent to prison for a shooting in 2008 he

“could have ended up dead or killing someone”.

He told the TV show how since his release he had been advising organisations on gang culture and how young people could steer clear of a life of crime.

But only five months after the programme was aired, Grant, of The Shrubbery, Woodville, admitted possession with intent to supply both heroin and crack cocaine. Derby Crown Court heard police witnessed what they suspected was a drug deal taking place in Swadlincote. A man was seen getting out of a car and approaching people before what is suspected to have been drugs were handed over. Grant was arrested and his address was searched. A large amount of the two drugs were found there along with cash and an iPhone.

As he was jailed for four years in November 2019, Judge Shant told

To say you let yourself and others down in a spectacular style is to put it mildly.

Judge Nirmal Shant QC