'West Lothian drugs crook ordered to hand over £29,000

PROSECUTORS have used proceeds of crime legislation to seize more than £29,000 from a crook who is serving time for drug dealing.

Neil Scott was told to hand over the funding at the High Court, Edinburgh

Neil Scott,40, was ordered to hand over £29,115 of his criminal gains following a hearing at the High Court in Edinburgh on Monday.

The gangster was a member of a gang who were caught in January 2016 with £275,000 of cocaine and cannabis.

Scott, of Linlithgow, West Lothian acted with Ryan Ingleston,26, Andrew Raven,35, and Andrew Weir,28, to supply dealers in central Scotland with narcotics.

The quartet were jailed for more than 25 years after being detained by Police Scotland drugs squad officers.

On Monday, prosecution lawyer Dan Byrne told judge Lord Woolman that the Crown and Mr Scott’s legal team had reached an agreement about how much Scott had earned during his time as a criminal.

Mr Byrne said that Crown and defence lawyers had agreed that Scott had made £200,000 during his life of crime.

Mr Byrne added that the Crown were only able to recover £29,115 from Scott at this point in time - but if it became clear that he had more assets available then prosecutors could seize them.

Lord Woolman agreed to allow the deal to become legally binding. Scott now has six months to pay prosecutors the sum.