A TATA Steel worker has been ordered to forfeit more than £8,000 after he was convicted of drugs offences.

Callum Sullivan, of Hilltop Close in Ewloe, was sentenced in February for possession with intent to supply ketamine, as well as possession of cannabis.

The 25-year-old received an 18 month sentence for the ketamine, suspended for 18 months, and no separate penalty for the cannabis.

On Friday, September 16, he appeared at Mold Crown Court for a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing - which confirmed his total financial benefit from his criminality, as well as the money he had available to be confiscated.

Karl Scholz, prosecuting, told the court the defendant had benefited to the tune of £42,141, with the amount of money available to be confiscated confirmed at £8,586.

READ MORE: Warehouse worker avoids jail for drugs offences

The sum was held across numerous accounts, Mr Scholz said, and included cryptocurrency held by the defendant.

The Crown Prosecution Service sought the forfeiture of two mobile phones, bags and scales confiscated at an earlier date by the police and invited Judge David Hale to consider ordering Sullivan to pay prosecution costs of up to £1,703.

Asked about his employment, the defendant - represented by Jo Maxwell at the hearing - said he worked as a warehouse operative at the Tata Steel site in Flintshire.

Judge Hale said the defendant would have to "start again with a life" after his monies were taken away and to order him to pay hefty costs may "drive him back to doing something like this again."

READ MORE: Drug driving Flintshire motorcyclist ended up in hedge

"We want him to get on with his life and not be penalised all the time," the Judge said.

Judge Hale ordered that the available amount be confiscated and that the defendant pay a £156 victim surcharge, which he had no discretion over - but ordered no costs.

The defendant asked: "What's the score with the rest of the money?"

Judge Hale told him that unless he won the Lottery, or had some other substantial windfall in the future, he couldn't be asked to pay back money he no longer owned.

"It's not like student debt," he reassured him.

 

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