News
Former South Tyneside man ordered to pay back thousands
Dated: 16 Apr 2010
A former South Tyneside resident convicted of cultivating cannabis has been ordered to pay back thousands of pounds of his ill-gotten gains following a Northumbria Police investigation.
Paul Richard McAndrew, now of Scott Street, Cramlington, will have to pay back over £10,000 within six months.
The 43-year-old was handed a 26-week suspended sentence for 12 months in September 2009 for cultivating cannabis plants after a farm was found at his former home address in Harold Street, Jarrow.
A subsequent confiscation hearing, under the Proceeds of Crime Act, was held at Newcastle Crown Court, on Thursday, April 15, 2010, to assess how much money McAndrew had made from crime.
A benefit figure of £60, 985 was agreed with a realisable asset figure of £10, 850. If McAndrew fails to pay this sum within the allotted time of six months, he will receive a nine-month prison sentence.
Katherine Watson, Northumbria Police Financial Investigator based at South Tyneside Area Command, said: "We are pleased with the outcome of the confiscation hearing.
"Financial outcomes can be as much of a deterrent as going to jail because people who are arrested are losing everything they have - even things they acquired through honest means."