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Wolverhampton cocaine dealers told to pay back £86,000

Two city men who supplied high purity cocaine in an illicit drugs ring have been ordered to hand over more than £86,000 of their ill-gotten gains.

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Thomas Williams, 53, and Kenneth Bailey, 62, were part of an operation to flood Gloucester and Cheltenham with the drugs, and have both been ordered to hand over the cash after appearing before Gloucester Crown Court for confiscation hearings.

The duo were in cahoots with Marcus Campbell, 37, the Gloucester ringleader of the gang which brought cocaine to the city from Birmingham and Wolverhampton. He accepted that his criminal benefit had been £119,990.

Of that, the court was told, he has assets of £51,607 available for confiscation.

Judge Jamie Tabor QC ordered that the money must be handed over within three months or Campbell would have to serve an extra 18 months jail in default.

Campbell, of Linton Ave, Kingsway, Gloucester, was jailed for seven years in March for his role in two conspiracies to bring Class A drugs to Gloucester.

The Wolverhampton pair acted as couriers, bringing the cocaine to Gloucester.

Bailey, of Magnolia Court, who is serving a jail term of four years 10 months, accepted that his benefit was £80,000 and that he has enough assets to repay that amount in full within three months.

Judge Tabor said he would have to serve an additional two years in default if the money is not paid.

Thomas Williams, 53, of Sedgley rd, Wolverhampton, who received a three and a half year sentence, agreed his criminal benefit was £105,330. The prosecution accepted that he now has assets of only £6,490 available for confiscation.

The court was told that £29,990 of the cash to be handed over by Bailey is already in police custody because it was found in his Renault van when he and Williams arrived at the home of one of the conspirators in Hempsted, Gloucestershire last summer.

In total there were eight men involved in the two conspiracies which were smashed by police operation 'Quentin.'

After careful surveillance work police had pounced on June 25 last year, seizing a kilo of cocaine from Williams and Bailey's van on Douglas' driveway.

On June 27 an exchange of drugs was observed on Britten Place, Cheltenham, and when it was stopped shortly afterwards police found another kilo of cocaine

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