A criminal has been ordered to repay £80,000 after he was convicted for producing cannabis.
Michael Reed, 60, said he made the money from sales on an online auction site and selling second hand cars, but many of his claims were disproved by the diligent work of Nottinghamshire Police’s Financial Investigation Unit during a three year confiscation investigation.
Analysis of Reed’s bank statements showed that tens of thousands of pounds had passed through them in the form of cash deposits. A calculation of all unexplained income and cash transactions by Reed was made, which amounted to a criminal benefit of over £200,000.
Investigators disproved Reed’s claims about the source of the income after combing through records from Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and hundreds of invoice documents provided by Reed.
Reed, of Abbey Park Road in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, was originally sentenced to 10 months in prison suspended for two years, after pleading guilty to cannabis production at Nottingham Crown Court on 6 September 2017. Confiscation proceedings were started after the conviction.
The Proceeds of Crime Act legislation allows law enforcement agencies to investigate the financial history of suspects and apply to the Crown Court for a Confiscation Order. These are made by a judge when investigators can show that the convicted person has profited from crime.
Confiscation orders can include both the value of the offending and the financial lifestyle of the convicted person and will culminate in their assets being sold if they cannot account for their legitimate history.
A portion of the funds raised from confiscation is returned to law enforcement and can be reinvested in tackling crime or community initiatives.
Reed was given the order at a confiscation hearing on Friday 16 October 2020 and now has three months to pay. If he fails to pay the order he will be eligible for a default prison sentence of nine months.
Detective Inspector Nikki Smith, Head of Nottinghamshire Police Financial Investigation Unit said: “I’m delighted with this successful confiscation after three years of exceptional work by both the officer in charge of the criminal matter and the investigator who dealt with the confiscation.
“No one should profit from any acquisitive crime which affords them a lifestyle that other people cannot, and I’m glad that today’s verdict shows crime does not pay.
“I would encourage anyone to come forward if someone they know has a lifestyle which doesn’t fit with their income.”
