Crime doesn't pay as 76yr old Rustington man found out.

Ronald Chapman, 76, of Fontwell Close, Rustington, sentenced in March to 12 months imprisonment suspended for two years, with a six month curfew order, was given confiscation order for £63,205 at Hove Crown Court on 6 May. Acting on intelligence, police searched his house in October last year and found a cannabis ‘factory’ in the loft, together with 50 large cannabis plants. Cash was also found and examination of his bank accounts helped show that, as he admitted, he had been growing cannabis for five years for dealers in the Littlehampton area.


The £63,205 must be paid within six months or he will serve a further 18 months and still have to pay.

This Order adds to the success by Sussex Police in securing, during financial year 2009 to 2010 alone, 179 court confiscation orders following convictions, valued at a highest ever annual total for Sussex of £2,388 million, plus 34 civil forfeiture orders valued at £178,405 following cash seizures from suspected offenders.

Detective Inspector Chris Neilson of the forces's Economic Crime Unit said “These are just some of the latest results of continuing hard work by our officers, and in particular our expert financial investigators. We now target not just the criminals but also the profits of their crimes, whether they be from drug dealing or any other form of criminal activity. It can take time and each investigation is subject to a court-authorised confiscation order, and criminals need to know that where we think they have profits, hidden thought they may be, we don’t give up after sentencing. Financial investigation is increasingly at the heart of all criminal investigation.”