A Carlisle grandad who hid bundles of criminal cash throughout his city home — even stashing some in a sock drawer — has been ordered by a judge to formally surrender more than £71,000.
Wilson O’Neil, 69, was caught out when officers raided his address in December 2017.
Vast sums of money were recovered from different areas inside the property, including a sock drawer, a wardrobe, the pockets of clothes and under floorboards.
Some £28,000 was found inside a kitchen cooker extractor fan unit and more money was discovered within the glove compartment of a vehicle.
In total, £61,370 was seized by police and O’Neil, of Ridley Road, later admitted concealing criminal cash.
He denied being the owner but accepted it originated from crime.
Earlier this year, he was handed a suspended prison sentence for the offence, along with a four-month night time curfew.
The judge who handed down that punishment told him: “You knew, or suspected, that the cash was totally or in part the proceeds of criminal conduct.”
But O’Neil was back at the crown court today after police mounted a financial investigation and sought to claw back cash under Proceeds of Crime Act legislation.
The total amount O’Neil was said to have benefited from illegal activity was £75,390.88.
His available assets were agreed by the prosecution and defence to be £71,430.52.After hearing submissions,
Judge Nicholas Barker ordered the confiscation of the latter figure. This comprises the £61,000-plus found at his home, along with jewellery deemed to be worth £7,548 and a little over £2,512.52 held in a bank account.
O’Neil must hand over the cash within three months or face a period behind bars in default.
