Kent drug dealer loses cash showing dealing doesn’t pay
A man who was sentenced in connection with drug dealing has been ordered to pay back more than £6,000. Joseph Cantwell was arrested on 19 March 2017 when officers found a bag of cannabis he had hidden in bushes following a road traffic collision in Lunsford Lane, Larkfield. A search of his car and home address found further quantities of cannabis and £5,960. Cantwell, 23, pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis with intent to supply and was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court on 20 December to nine months in prison, suspended for two years. At a confiscation hearing at Maidstone Crown Court on Friday 13 July 2018, Cantwell of Cygnet Close, Larkfield was ordered to pay back £6,060. This included the cash seized by police officers and £100 in his bank account. Detective Inspector Annie Clayton, of the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate said: ‘At the conclusion of a criminal case, my investigators work continues. ‘This man has been ordered to pay back this money as part of the Proceeds of Crime Act which ensures that he did not financially benefit from his drug dealing activity. ‘We will continue to use legislation to pursue offenders and seize any cash or assets that we can prove they have obtained through criminal behaviour.’
