Waveney: Cash Confiscated

More than £28,000 has been seized under the Proceeds of Crime Act from three people who were sentenced in February 2011 for being involved in the production of cannabis in Waveney.

57-year-old Brian Reynolds from Herons Close in Lowestoft was jailed for two years on February 21 last year after admitting producing and supplying the drug, while co-defendants 66-year-old Christine Smedley from Herons Close and 61-year-old Grizelda Bayliss from Wenhaston Way in Lowestoft were given six-month sentences suspended for a year and ordered to do 40 hours of community work for being involved in the production of cannabis.

Police had executed drugs warrants at homes in Ballygate in Beccles and Wenhaston Way and Herons Close in Lowestoft and discovered a total of more than 140 cannabis plants being grown.

On Tuesday, 29 May, Reynolds and Bayliss appeared at Ipswich Crown Court for the final part of proceedings against them - a Proceeds of Crime Act confiscation hearing which saw £15,000 seized from Reynolds and £8,420 from Bayliss. Smedley had previously agreed her confiscation of £5,200, taking the final amount to £28,620.

The Proceeds of Crime Act allows police and the courts to recover money and assets which have been gained through criminal activity with Suffolk Police's Financial Investigators working to identify where confiscation proceedings are appropriate and ensuring these cases are put back before the courts for action.