“SEVEN YEARS FOR AN OUNCE OF WEED”
Yesterday Wrexham Magistrates sent Terry Knight of Wrexham Road, Penyffordd, Flintshire, back to prison for failing to pay his confiscation order made under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
Back in March 2007, Knight and his ex-partner were convicted following three trials of jointly possessing 119 grams of cannabis and 51 grams of amphetamine with intent to supply the drugs. Knight was also convicted of converting the cash he made from his criminal activities into a parcel of land in Penyffordd village. Knight was sent to prison for total of 52 months.
At a confiscation hearing in March 2008, Knight was adjudged to have benefited from his criminality to the tune of £133,685 and was ordered to pay the available amount from realising his assets in the sum of £98,723.89. He was given four months to satisfy the order.
Subsequently, financial investigators from the North West Regional Asset Recovery Team uncovered a portfolio of endowments, ISAs, and unit trusts worth £22,129. Knight when earlier ordered to declare such assets to the Court lied stating that he did not own any. In June 2008, His Honour Judge Rogers QC raised the order to £118,853.88 and the sentence to be served in default to three years. He sent him to prison immediately for four months for Contempt of Court.
Just over £30,000 in banks, building societies and other funds held in frozen accounts were paid over to the treasury after payment orders were obtained in court.
£87,495.95 held in the form of a house and a piece of land remains unpaid. Knight had made no attempt to sell them.
He failed to appear at a default hearing at Wrexham Magistrates Court in February 2009 and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
On Tuesday 2nd June 2009 Knight was arrested by the North Wales Police in Buckley, Flintshire. He appeared yesterday before Magistrates sitting at Wrexham. He addressed the Court at length as to why he shouldn’t be sent to prison stating that he was told he couldn’t sell the properties because they were restrained and that the CPS wouldn’t lift the order. He declared that the law was unfair. “I’ve done my time for the crime. It’s not fair. I’m being sent down for seven years for an ounce of weed.”
The Court jailed Knight for 841 days (2.3 years) for default of his confiscation order.
DCI Mike Jones, Head of the NWRART said, “The legislation was intended by the government to be draconian, and to deprive professional criminals of their ill-gotten gains. This case illustrates how severe the penalties can be for those who intentionally flout its provisions.”
Chief Superintendent Ruth Purdie of North Wales Police added: “I wish to reassure the public of Flintshire and Wrexham that North Wales Police will take very decisive action to ensure we recover the proceeds of crime from individuals who have been convicted of committing crime and gaining from their actions.”
CRIME DOESN’T PAY