Drug trafficker ordered to pay £1

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/6309963.stm

Version 0 of 1.

A drug trafficker has been stripped of crime profits totalling £1 at the High Court in Edinburgh.

Craig McAteer, 37, from Bothwell, Lanarkshire, was jailed for five years in December after he admitted being concerned in the supply of cocaine.

On Monday, the Crown asked a judge to record his proceeds of drug trafficking as £305,386.97.

But they sought a confiscation order against McAteer for "the nominal sum of £1" as his realisable assets.

McAteer was given 28 days to pay the seizure order to the sheriff clerk in Glasgow.

After his conviction the Crown raised a proceeds of crime action against him to seize crime profits.

Advocate depute Patricia Comiskey told Lord Macphail that the case had settled.

She said: "It has settled for a nominal amount given the assets that could be established for the accused."

Donald Findlay QC, who defended McAteer during the earlier drugs case, said that far from being a major player he had earned little from his drugs activities.

He claimed that McAteer had lost the lot after being caught and ended up without even "a brass farthing".