Cocaine user who stashed £50,000 worth of cannabis after getting into debt to his dealer told to pay back nearlry £10,000

Jack Darcy was ordered to pay back the cash at a confiscation hearing at Portsmouth Crown Court having benefited from general criminal conduct of more than £420,000.

The defendant was sentenced last July to a six-month term suspended for two years with 150 hours’ unpaid work for his crimes after admitting being concerned in the supply of a class B drug and possession of criminal property.

The 29-year-old admitted stashing five kilos of cannabis and the £5,000 cash at his then Waterlooville home after getting into £5,000 worth of debt to his cocaine dealer in March 2019.

Police found the cash and drugs following a visit for an unrelated matter.

A Hampshire police drugs expert estimated the wholesale value was between £20,000-25,000, while the cannabis would have been worth £50,000 on the street.

Darcy’s lawyer during his sentencing last July, Russell Pyne, said: ‘He had built up a drug debt of £5,000 or so and was offered the chance to work that debt off - but of course... the chance is rather loaded in these circumstances of a drug user and a drug dealer.

‘And so it was that the defendant agreed to store both drugs and money in his property.’

At his confiscation hearing, the court heard how Darcy, now of Langstone Road, Portsmouth, had benefited from general criminal conduct to the tune of £421,127.44 but had sought to contradict the figure through his lawyer.

However, recorder Michael Bromley-Martin QC said the defendant had ‘no evidence to disprove’ that.

‘Mr Darcy is not willing to give any indication of figures and is not willing to go on oath,’ the recorder said.

He added: ‘The impression given is one of obscurity.’

The court heard Darcy had been involved in buying and selling cars, as well as gambling, with the money.

Mr Bromley-Martin concluded: ‘Mr Darcy has been given every opportunity to overturn the assumptions. It is apparent from his witness statement there is not the slightest evidence to disprove that.’

The court heard Darcy had available assets of £5,196 - which were subject to an upcoming forfeiture hearing at the magistrates.

This left the remaining balance calculated of what Darcy had to pay back being £4,082.28 - the total amount in his Nationwide bank account. He has three months to pay the money.

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The court was also told how Darcy had breached his community order by failing to appear at two appointments as part of his 150 hours of unpaid work requirement.

Recorder Bromley-Martin extended the order to run until July 7, 2022, fined him £300 and told him to cough up costs of £95.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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