Drug dealer force to hand over nearly £50,000

A convicted drug dealer has been ordered to hand over £49,000 of his ill-gotten gains, the Crown Office said.

Jason Cleary was told to pay the money at the High Court in Edinburgh today.

The 34-year-old, from Greenock, had previously been sentenced to 13 years in prison for dealing heroin.

Today, the court made the confiscation order after he was unable to account for the money.

He had five previous convictions for drugs offences and was handed a confiscation order for £21,696 in 2004.

Lindsey Miller, who heads the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service’s (COPFS) Serious and Organised Crime Division, said: “Jason Cleary was a persistent offender with a number of convictions for drug dealing. He had already had a number of lengthy jail sentences imposed by the courts prior to committing this latest offence.

“Drug dealers do a vast amount of harm to our communities for their own criminal gain, without a thought for the effect they have on the lives of others.

“COPFS will continue to work with police and other agencies to disrupt the activities of drug dealers to prevent them re-investing their profits.

“We will use all of the powers available to us through proceeds of crime legislation to seize all available money made from selling drugs, and we will make it very difficult for them to continue their criminal activities.”