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Drug millionaires from Gravesend, Dartford and Swanley made to pay back just £1

Four men who benefited from a massive drugs ring to the tune of more than £1m have been ordered to pay back just £1 each.

That was the nominal figure ordered by a judge because Lee Selves, Sonny Selves, Nicholas Parker and Stevie Joyce were said to have “nil” assets.

Lee Selves, of Wellcome Avenue, Dartford, Sonny Selves, of no fixed address, Nicholas Parker, of Lower Range Road, Gravesend, and Stevie Joyce, 43, of Kirby Road, Dartford, were given seven days to pay.

Lee Selves, 29, from Wellcome Avenue in Dartford was found guilty of conspiring to import heroin. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Image, Kent Police.
Lee Selves, 29, from Wellcome Avenue in Dartford was found guilty of conspiring to import heroin. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Image, Kent Police.

They received lengthy sentences in June last year – Lee Selves 20 years, Sonny Selves 16-and-a-half years, Parker 18 years and Joyce 16 years.

Lee Selves, 29, Sonny Selves, 24, and Parker, 35, weresaid to have benefited by £1,045,000 and Joyce by £1,098,000.

Thomas Atkins, of Chave Road, Wilmington, also benefited by £1,098,000 and had realisable assets of £3,945. He was ordered to pay that amount within 14 days.

Sonny Selves, 24, from Hillhouse Road in Stone was convicted of conspiring to import heroin. He was sentenced to 16 years and 6 months. Image, Kent Police.
Sonny Selves, 24, from Hillhouse Road in Stone was convicted of conspiring to import heroin. He was sentenced to 16 years and 6 months. Image, Kent Police.

Roy James, of Dudley Avenue, Westgate, benefited by £1,593,470 and had assets of £97,109, which included a Harley Davidson motorcycle, a girocopter and £19,000 cash.

James, 55, who was jailed for 27 years, was given 60 days to pay the £97,109 or face a further 16 months jail in default.

Atkins, 31, was jailed for 17 and a half years.

Nicholas Parker 34, of Wellcome Avenue Dartford was convicted of conspiring to import heroin. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison. Image, Kent Police.
Nicholas Parker 34, of Wellcome Avenue Dartford was convicted of conspiring to import heroin. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison. Image, Kent Police.

Confiscation hearings are still to be held for others.

The eight Kent men who were sentenced and were involved in the multi-million pound drugs ring that aimed to flood the UK with heroin and cocaine, were locked up for a total of 147 years.

They played a part in “systematic and repeated large-scale importation” into the UK.

Thomas Atkins, 31, from Chave Road in Dartford was found guilty of three charges; conspiracy to import cocaine, conspiracy to import heroin and conspiracy to import cannabis. He was sentenced to 17 years and 6 months. Image, Kent Police.
Thomas Atkins, 31, from Chave Road in Dartford was found guilty of three charges; conspiracy to import cocaine, conspiracy to import heroin and conspiracy to import cannabis. He was sentenced to 17 years and 6 months. Image, Kent Police.

Prosecutor Richard Barton told Maidstone Crown Court they were part of an organised crime group hoping to make huge profits.

There were a series of importations in different places.

“They were of such large quantities that the value runs into millions of pounds if sold on the streets,” said Mr Barton.

Stevie Joyce, 35, from New Barn Road in Swanley was convicted of conspiracy to import cocaine, conspiracy to import heroin and conspiracy to import cannabis. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison. Image, Kent Police.
Stevie Joyce, 35, from New Barn Road in Swanley was convicted of conspiracy to import cocaine, conspiracy to import heroin and conspiracy to import cannabis. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison. Image, Kent Police.

“Only some of the drugs imported were, in fact, seized.

“This is effectively about a criminal commercial enterprise – the equivalent of a company.”

Two of the conspiracies from May to July and August to September in 2013 concerned supply of heroin and cocaine from commercial premises in Swanley.

Some of the multi-million pound drugs seized by police. Image, Kent Police.
Some of the multi-million pound drugs seized by police. Image, Kent Police.
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