Drug dealer to lose £49,000

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

Jason Cleary, 34, was told to pay the money by the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday.

Cleary, from Greenock, had previously been sentenced to 13 years in prison for dealing heroin. 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 also 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: ““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.”