Drugs cash seized was counted wrongly (From Swindon Advertiser)

Swindon drugs cash seized was counted wrongly

3:41pm Tuesday 25th September 2012 in News

A JUDGE has a changed a confiscation order on a man convicted of drug dealing – because the cash seized by the police hadn’t been counted properly.

Lee Mottram, of Cowleaze Crescent, Wroughton, had been ordered to surrender the £180 when he escaped a jail term for possessing cocaine with intent to supply.

The cash was seized from the 20-year-old when he was arrested on January 25. But after the order was made by a judge on August 3, the notes were properly counted and found to total only £100.

Claire Marlow, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court that an order had been made under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

It found he had benefited by £580 but that all he had to forfeit was the cash on him when the police arrested him, which was thought to be £180.

She said: “The police went to count the money: the realisable amount was money in their custody. The realisable amount should be £100 not £180.”

Judge Douglas Field changed the order which had been made to reflect the amount being held by the police.

Mottram was put on a 12 month jail term suspended for a year and told to do 200 hours of community service.

He had admitted possessing cocaine with intent to supply and simple possession of class C drug oxymetholone, an anabolic steroid.