I REFUSE to believe that a criminal involved in a drugs ring which clawed in hundreds of thousands of pounds has just £10 to his name to forfeit to the police.
Steven Binning was a dealer in a cocaine conspiracy worth hundreds of thousands of pounds but will have to pay back just £10 because he now has ‘no assets’.
Binning was one of the conspirators working under Mohammed Nasar, dubbed the ‘puppet master’, who orchestrated the bulk supply of the class A drug into Worcester.
Father-of-three Binning appeared at Worcester Crown Court yesterday for a proceeds of crime application, an attempt by the prosecution to claw back criminal cash including money from dealing drugs, and it was heard that it was estimated he would have made £42,500 from 1kg of cocaine.
But, the court heard, after ‘bottoming out the ownership of various properties’ he now had ‘no assets’ and thus a ‘nominal order of £10’ was set, which he must pay within 28 days or face an extra day in jail.
The reality, surely, is that he has hidden the money by 'giving it' to other people until he's out of prison.
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