Kerching: Dirty Money Forfeited by Carlisle Drug Dealer

A Carlisle drug dealer is out of pocket after an order was made for the forfeiture of suspected drug money.

[Note: This is a revised version of an earlier post. I have corrected some formatting problems]

District Judge John Temperley, sitting at Carlisle Magistrates' Court on Friday, 30th August 2024, considered an application by Cumbria Constabulary for the forfeiture of £3,765 from the unnamed 30-something-year-old male.

Section 298 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 states that the court may order the forfeiture of cash, or part thereof, if it is satisfied that it is recoverable property (e.g. the proceeds of crime) or intended by any person for use in unlawful conduct.

I have previously written about similar powers that allow the court to freeze bank accounts it has reasonable grounds to believe are funded by the proceeds of crime.

DJ Temperley, no doubt for the benefit of journalists present, summarised the circumstances as to how the police came into possession of the cash.

On 27th February 2024 the man, who has previous convictions for drug dealing, was arrested in relation to other matters.

A search of his person uncovered £1,000 in cash, for which he offered an explanation. During the short time of the search his mobile phone repeatedly rang with incoming calls from different numbers.

Exercising their powers under section 18 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, officers then went to the man's address and conducted a search of it. During that search the police found paraphernalia related to the supply of drugs, plus an additional sum of cash.

The man made no comment when interviewed.

The court heard that he had previous convictions for possession with intent to supply drugs of classes A and B. He had also been subject to the forfeiture of suspected dirty money on three previous occasions.

The man did not contest this latest application.

Satisfied that the cash was recoverable property or intended for use in unlawful conduct, DJ Temperley granted the application and made the forfeiture order.

The court makes a lot of these orders - often for tens of thousands of pounds - and you'd be surprised how many go uncontested. If the police had wrongly seized even £100 of mine you can be pretty sure I'd turn up to court to argue about it!