Simon Roberts left, Wayne McKenzie (middle top), Laura Roberts (top right), David Arfon Jones (middle bottom) and Taxi driver David Taylor (bottom right) who were subject to POCA financial orders at Mold Crown Court (Photo: North Wales Police)
A Proceeds of Crime Act order was made against Simon Roberts and others involved in cocaine supply or money laundering in North Wales
A drug dealer jailed for his part in bringing cocaine worth tens of thousands of pounds into North Wales must hand over £400,000 - or face a longer prison sentence.
Simon Roberts made £600,000 out of the illegal enterprise, an investigation into his financial affairs under The Proceeds of Crime Act has found.
Today Judge Niclas Parry made an agreed POCA financial order at Mold Crown Court that Roberts must hand over £400,000 or serve an additional two and a half years imprisonment.
The judge agreed to give Roberts the maximum six months to pay after defending barrister Jonathan Duffy said the money would be raised by the sale of a number of properties.
The Daily Post reported last year how Roberts, then 40 and of Dolydd Lane, Cefn Mawr, received a 10 year sentence after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine from Liverpool into North Wales, mainly the Wrexham area, and money laundering.
Wayne McKenzie, 40, of Beckenham Avenue, Liverpool, received 10 years and four months after admitting the same offences. It was agreed his benefit was £445,100.
The judge was told the available amount for confiscation was £141,924 and he was given six months to pay so he can sell two properties.
In default he must service an additional 18 months and was warned if that was the case, the money would remain payable.
David Arfon Jones, 31, of East Avenue, Ruabon, who previously received six years, agreed his criminal benefit was £307,412 with £13,138 available for confiscation through the sale of vehicles.
Taxi driver David Taylor, 55, of Pentre Gwyn, Wrexham, who acted as a courier and was jailed for six years and eight months had a criminal benefit of £12,150 and that was the amount confiscated.
Laura Roberts, 27, of Cefn Mawr, wife of Simon Roberts, who previously got an 18 month suspended sentence with 300 hours of unpaid work after she was convicted of money laundering by providing banking arrangements for her husband, had made £18,205 out of it.
The available amount for confiscation in her case was £7,875 which was said to be cash in a bank.
An earlier hearing at Caernarfon Crown Court was told how police had mounted a covert operation in the spring of 2013 and bugged Roberts’s business premises at Rhosymedre – known as Tantastic – and his van. He owned a villa abroad, a number of properties in North Wales and a top-of-the-range car.
Number plate recognition tracked McKenzie’s car in a single day travelling home to Liverpool, then Staffordshire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Manchester and back to North Wales.
Judge Parry said at the time the effects of the drug on the community was “incalculable”.
Police at the time said the arrests were made as part of Operation Scorpion’s continued fight against serious and organised crime in the region.
http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/wrexham-drug-dealer-told-pay-12288155
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