Drug boss who dealt while on probation repays just £790

A drug dealer who was caught selling cannabis while attending his own probation appointments has been ordered to pay back just a tiny fraction of his illegal profits.

Luke Brown, 22, from Newport, was jailed for 32 months last summer after it emerged he had gone straight back to dealing drugs despite being handed a suspended sentence.

Now, at a proceeds of crime hearing at Newport Crown Court, it was revealed that Brown profited by £37,764.90 from his drug dealing – but has just £790.26 in realisable assets.

Recorder Jonathan Rees KC made a confiscation order for that amount, telling Brown: “That sum must be paid within three months. In default of payment, you will serve two weeks’ imprisonment. You must understand that time in prison will not clear the amount you owe.”

The defendant must also pay a victim surcharge of £187 following his release from custody, and Recorder Rees ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the drugs seized.

How Brown’s offending unravelled

When Brown was sentenced in July 2025, Cardiff Crown Court heard he had returned to dealing after receiving a 24-month sentence, suspended for 24 months, in March for supplying cocaine and cannabis.

His latest offending took place in May last year when police raided his family home in Oliphant Circle, Newport. Officers discovered just over half a kilo of cannabis in a rucksack in his garden, along with smaller amounts in his bedroom. The combined street value of the drugs was estimated at between £3,270 and £4,390.

Police also found a mobile phone containing text bombs offering cannabis for sale. The court heard Brown had “an operational or management function in the chain and was directing others.”

He pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply cannabis.

‘Empty words’

His barrister, Martha Smith-Higgins, told the court her client had been addicted to cannabis since he was just 13. She said: “He has the support of his family who are in court and they are understandably concerned about him. I would ask the court to take into account the defendant’s young age and lack of maturity.”

The court heard Brown was the registered carer for his brother, had been diagnosed with blood cancer as a child, and had lost his father at a young age.

However, the sentencing judge, Recorder Claire Pickthall, was unmoved. She told Brown: “You were directing others in the dealing of drugs. Your criminal behaviour has had an impact on your family – but that was your choice. You had an operational or management role in the chain and there was the expectation of significant financial reward.”

Pickthall said the remorse Brown had claimed in the pre-sentence report for his March sentence were “empty words,” adding: “While you were attending probation appointments, you were dealing drugs.”