THREE members of a South Yorkshire criminal gang who made thousands of pounds selling dodgy cigarettes smuggled into the UK from Eastern Europe have been ordered to pay back more than £400,000.
James Sanders, Paul Dansby and Kevin Porter were jailed for a total of six and a half years last November after police uncovered an illegal network which saw thousands of pounds worth of counterfeit cigarettes from Poland distributed to more than 200
of their friends and associates to sell.
Dansby, aged 34, was jailed for 16 months after police raided his business premises on the Carlton Industrial Estate, Carlton, Barnsley, and found 15,880 cigarettes and £3,300 cash.
He was brought back before Sheffield Crown Court for a hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act relating to a property he bought in Bar Lane, Mapplewell, Barnsley, with cash he made from selling the cigarettes.
The vendor sold Dansby the house for £50,000 in 2004, with a 40-year lease that left him as the tenant paying Dansby a peppercorn rent.
Dansby has already paid back £50,000 but prosecutor Kirsty Watson said the current market value of the house was £140,000 and asked for him to pay back another £90,000.
Judge Henry Prosser ordered Dansby, of Limes Way, Gawber, to pay back £96,797,35 in six months or face another 21 months in prison.
He said: "This property is a benefit obtained by the defendant through criminal conduct. This act was designed to ensure those who commit crime should not benefit from that crime."
Self-proclaimed "wheeler dealer" Sanders, 35, of Laithes Crescent, Athersley, was sentenced to three years nine months after admitting two counts of money laundering, two of possessing weapons and one of possessing counterfeit goods. He was ordered to pay £250,416.40 in June and faces an extra three years six months in jail if he fails to pay up within the six month deadline.
Porter, 59, of Ladymead, Monk Bretton, was jailed for 15 months after admitting one count of money laundering. Officers found 18,200 cigarettes and £1,200 cash at his home.
He was ordered to pay back £73,315,87 at the same hearing and faces a further 18 months in custody if he doesn't clear the debt in six months.
Sanders' girlfriend Nicola Leishman, 32, was sentenced to 220 hours unpaid community work after admitting one count of money laundering and was ordered to pay back £55,000 in June.
READ MOREMain news indexYour letters.
FeaturesMore Rotherham newsMore Doncaster newsMore Barnsley newsCheck out the very latest on South Yorkshire's roads - including live traffic cameras on Sheffield's commuter routes - with our Traffic sectionLatest sport. The full article contains 465 words and appears in Sheffield Star newspaper.
