A convicted drug supplier, Bradley Hewett, who was jailed for 10 years in July 2023 after pleading guilty to being concerned in the buying and selling of large quantities of cocaine and cannabis, has been ordered to give up £150,000 of illegally-earned funds.
Financial investigators from Kent Police have now ensured he will not be able to continue to benefit from his offending when he is eventually released from prison, after they secured a confiscation order against him under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
Hewett, 38, from Sittingbourne, organised the supply of drugs using a heavily-encrypted messaging service for criminals known as EncroChat, which was decoded by international law enforcement agencies in the spring of 2020. Messages passed to Kent Police for further investigation showed that Hewett, using the name ‘Stream Burrito’, was involved in the supply of cocaine valued at between £34,000 and £40,000 per kilogram and cannabis worth between £4,000 and £4,900 per kilogram.
The confiscation order against him was granted by a judge at Maidstone Crown Court on Tuesday 5 November 2024. Should he fail to pay within three months then he will have a further two and a half years added to his sentence and still have to pay.
Detective Inspector Dave Godfrey of Kent Police said:
‘Whilst Bradley Hewett received a significant custodial sentence of 10 years, the blow to him would have been softened had he been allowed to continue to reap the benefits of the illegal drug trade following his release from prison.
‘The Proceeds of Crime Act allows us to ensure that does not happen, and I am satisfied that he will now be forced to pay back a large sum of money earned from the supply of illegal substances that destroy people’s lives.’
Assets recovered under the Proceeds of Crime Act are distributed to the Home Office and operational agencies including Kent Police under the Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme.