Police move to keep £9,000 found in raid
Mar 25 2008 by Neil Mckay, The Journal
POLICE are to apply to magistrates to keep almost £9,000 in banknotes found during a raid on a woman’s home and allotment in a former mining village two years ago.
Next week Durham Police will apply to magistrates in Consett for a formal forfeiture order against Janice Hope, 48, of Wylam Street, Craghead, Stanley.
Officers searched her house in April 2006 after finding suspected cocaine, diazepam pills, weighing scales, CS gas canisters, a firearm and ammunition in allotment sheds used by Mrs Hope.
The middle-aged mother was arrested on suspicion of being involved in the illegal supply of controlled drugs, questioned and released on bail. Also found during the search of her house were 10 blank MOT certificates.
In December last year Durham magistrates, following a brief hearing in Mrs Hope’s absence, granted police a further three months to establish the source of the cash. The application to magistrates was for “the continued detention of seized cash, namely £8,803.09, the applicant having reasonable grounds for suspecting that it is recoverable property, that is property obtained through unlawful conduct intended for use in unlawful conduct.”
The police raid on the allotment followed information that Mrs Hope was suspected of being involved in the supply of controlled drugs.
Recovered from the yard of her home was a quantity of what police believed to be cocaine in self-sealing plastic bags hidden beneath some garden chairs.
Magistrates were told a search of the address by police officers turned up almost £9,000 in used notes.
The allotment search yielded what is thought to be cocaine along with diazepam pills and weighing scales. They also found two CS gas canisters, a firearm and ammunition.
During a police interview Ms Hope denied any knowledge of the drugs, firearm or CS gas cannisters, saying that anyone could have put them there.
She told police she had been left the cash by her mother, but the court granted an order allowing police to hold on to it under the proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
Mrs Hope told The Journal in 2006: “The police say they can keep the money and that is what they are doing. I’m not happy about it but it doesn’t seem that there is a lot I can do about the situation.”
A spokesman for Durham Police confirmed the force would now be making a Formal Forfeiture Application, meaning it would apply to keep the cash under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, at a hearing at Consett magistrates’ court on Wednesday, April 3 at 2pm.
