A drug dealer who made £125,000 by selling cocaine and possessed an expensive Rolex watch has been ordered to pay back just £73,000. He was found to have been dealing cocaine by the ounce to other dealers.
Macauley Cotterill, 25, from Cardiff, was caught after his car was stopped by police on May 26 last year. Among the items seized included a phone which revealed text messages relating to the sale of cocaine.
The defendant had turned to drug dealing after losing his employment as a roofer and refuse collector. He claimed he was not living a "lavish" lifestyle and the only luxurious item he purchased was the watch, which he described as a "lapse in judgement".
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Cotterill, of Caerwent Road, Ely, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply a controlled drug of Class A and possession of criminal property. A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court last year heard he had no previous convictions.
Sentencing, Recorder Paul Hobson said: "This was no ordinary drug dealing operation... You were dealing cocaine by the ounce to people you knew were dealers themselves. The drugs ultimately ended up with users who were addicted.
"You took a deliberate decision to deal in cocaine and doing that in order to make money – something you were able to do because money in significant quantities was recovered. You did it because of the huge financial reward. The position now is you did get caught and have to face the consequences of that." Cotterill was sentenced to a total four years and eight months imprisonment.
A Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) hearing at Cardiff Crown Court on Thursday heard Cotterill benefited to the tune of £124,287.10 from his criminal enterprise but only had available assets worth 73,968.85. Judge Shoman Khan ordered the defendant to pay that sum within three months, or serve a further 12 months imprisonment in default.
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