• Airmyn
• Asselby
• Barlby
• Barmby on the Marsh
• Blacktoft
• Bubwith
• Carlton
• Cowick
• Drax
• Elvington
• Foggathorpe
• Gilberdyke
• Goole
• Gowdall
• Great Heck
• Hemingbrough
• Holme on Spalding Moor
• Hook
• Howden
• Kilpin
• Market Weighton
• Moorends
• Newport
• North Cave
• North Duffield
• Rawcliffe
• Reedness
• Sandholme
• Seaton Ross
• Selby
• Snaith
• Spaldington
• Swinefleet
• Thorne
• Wheldrake
• Wressle

Jailed drug dealer and girlfriend to repay £115,000

Jailed former drug-dealer Stephen Cleary - dubbed Goole's 'Mr Big' - has been ordered to pay back almost £60,000 of ill-gotten gains.

The order, made by a Crown Court judge in Hull last week, is a major boon for police who have been trying to strip Mr Cleary of his assets since he was jailed for 11 years in 2006 for supplying Class A drugs, money-laundering and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

At Hull Crown Court last week, Judge David Tremberg made an asset confiscation order following police investigations under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

These investigations revealed that Mr Cleary (33) currently had assets worth £58,730, which he will be made to pay back within six months on pain of an 18-month prison sentence, which would run in addition to the 11-year sentence he is currently serving.

Mr Tremberg also ordered that Lisa Oldrige (34), who was Mr Cleary's girlfriend when he was running his drugs empire, would pay back £56,537, which police believed her assets are currently worth.

Ms Oldridge, who was jailed for two years for money-laundering, has two months to pay the money back on pain of a further 18-month prison sentence.

Both parties in the case - Humberside Police and solicitors for Mr Cleary and Ms Oldridge - agreed to the amounts stipulated in the confiscation orders.

The agreement means the two will have to pay back more than £115,000 between them.

Mr Cleary, who was jailed in October 2006, lived a life of luxury during his time as the criminal mastermind behind a nationwide drugs operation.

He and Ms Oldridge's ill-gotten gains included expensive cars, foreign holidays, houses and jewellery. Ms Oldridge had a £3,000 breast enhancement operation paid for out of the illegal funds.

Ashley Pearson, a financial investigator with Humberside Police's Major Crime Unit, said after last Thursday's hearing: "Stephen Cleary was a man whose business over the last 15 years was other people's misery, and this result has hit him hard where it hurts most - in his pocket.

"This result shows that Humberside Police is committed to the fight against crime, and depriving those who commit crime of their ill-gotten gains.

"It is a powerful message to anyone contemplating such a life that drug-dealers and other criminals are not just facing long periods in prison, they are also finding that everything they illegally worked for is confiscated and they are left with nothing."

Published on 14th August 2008 in News.

Add to: Digg | del.icio.us | Reddit

Property | Books | Contact Us | Sitemap | Terms & Conditions | Feeds