Drug dealer ordered to pay back ill-gotten gains

A Fenstanton drug dealer has been ordered to hand over more than £23,000.

A Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) hearing held at Cambridge Crown Court yesterday (2 October) ordered 21-year-old Dylan Stanton to pay £23,166.87 within three months or face eight months in prison.

Stanton was arrested at his home, in Pitfield Close, in January 2022, after intelligence suggested he was dealing drugs.

Inside officers found cocaine and cannabis as well as £2,000 in cash, mobile phones and bank cards.

At the time in interview, Stanton claimed the drugs were for personal use but investigations revealed he was receiving large and small transactions from lots of different people. He also held $4,500 in crypto-currency which was frozen at the time.

Stanton pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of class B drugs, possession of criminal property and possession of cocaine at court in June and was sentenced to ten months imprisonment, suspended for 18 months with a 60-hour unpaid work requirement.

PC Chris Winchester, from the Huntingdon neighbourhood team, said: “Stanton was dealing drugs from his home. On top of his sentence, he will now have to hand over a significant amount of money. Half will go to the government, the remainder split equally between the Crown Prosecution Service, His Majesty’s Court Service and police.

“Drugs and drug related crime has a negative impact on our communities and its use can harm the health and safety of our residents.”