Court orders Horley drug dealers to hand over illegal profits

Police say that Ryan Quinnell, 27, formerly of Antlands Lane, Shipley Bridge near Horley, was found at Lewes Crown Court on December 21 to have benefited by more than £262,000 and was given a Confiscation Order under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

The order required him to pay the currently available amount of £17,188 within three months or face a further six months in prison and still have to pay the full amount.

Police say he had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A, B and C drugs and was sentenced to nine years and seven months imprisonment at Lewes Crown Court in July 2019.

His brother Reece Quinnell, 24, formerly of the same address, had also pleaded guilty to the same offences and was sentenced to nine years at Lewes Crown Court in July last year.

At a previous hearing he had been found to have benefited by more than £90,000 and was given a confiscation order for £1,940 requiring him to pay within 28 days or face a further six weeks in prison and still have to pay the full amount required.

Liam Samels, 25, of Peterhouse Parade, Crawley, had also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and was sentenced to 28 months imprisonment at Lewes Crown Court in October 2019, and at a subsequent hearing was found to have benefited by more than £86,000 and was given a confiscation order requiring him to pay £2,230 within 28 days or face a further one month in prison and still have to pay the full amount required.

Reece Quinnell and Samels have since paid the amounts confiscated, said police.

The convictions and confiscation orders followed a police investigation which began when a car containing the three men was stopped while being driven without lights in Crawley town centre in May 2018. Searches of the car and addresses resulted in seizures of cocaine, MDMA, Ketamine, Diazepam and Phenazapam with a total estimated potential street value of up to £115,422, and more than £13,000 cash.

Detective Inspector Mark O’Brien of the force’s Economic Crime Unit said “These confiscation orders come from the continued hard work by our officers, and in particular our expert financial investigators.

“Wherever possible we now target not just the criminals but also the profits of their crimes, whether they are from drug dealing or any other form of criminal activity. It can take time and each investigation results in an application for a court-authorised confiscation order.

“Often in such cases the assets currently available are less than the amount originally stolen, but that still isn’t the end of the matter. It is really important to make clear that we still keep records of all confiscation orders where the full benefit amount isn’t immediately available and we have means of regularly checking to identify any additional assets which have been obtained since the original order was made.

“We can then apply to the court for an increase in the original order.”