A drug dealer has been ordered to pay back almost £200,000 earned from his illegal trade.

Sam Hemmingway was caught with cannabis, a knuckleduster and large amounts of cash when officers searched his home.

Analysis of phone messages by Kent Police detectives showed the 35-year-old of Millfield in Hawkinge had been involved in buying and dealing significant quantities of the class B drug.

When he was arrested following the raid on his home on October 27, 2022 officers seized £40,000 in cash as well as the drugs and the weapon.

Hemmingway was sentenced to two years and three months’ imprisonment in September last year after pleading guilty to the possession and supply of cannabis and possession of an offensive weapon.

Financial investigators from the force later established he had assets totalling £195,821 and applied for a confiscation order using legislation under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

The order was granted during a hearing at Canterbury Crown Court on Wednesday (September 25) meaning Hemmingway must now pay the sum within three months or spend another three years in prison and still have to pay.

Det Insp David Godfrey said: “Many criminals are attracted to drug dealing because they believe it is an easy way to make money and because they care little for the harm it causes to everyday people.

“What they perhaps don’t realise is that after they are arrested and convicted, we will take the money and assets earned unlawfully from them and will continue to do so until every penny has been paid back.”

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.