Drugs ring boxer Tony Booth told: Pay up or stay in prison
SHAMED boxer Tony Booth has been ordered to pay back almost £33,000 or face an extra 18 months in jail.
Booth, 41, is currently serving seven years behind bars for his role in a conspiracy to supply cocaine from the former Timber Dock pub in Victoria Dock, east Hull.
Booth, who had 166 professional fights in his 18-year career, profited from his criminality by more than £162,000, Hull Crown Court heard.
Booth will not have to pay back the full amount because he does not have enough assets.
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The father-of-two had claimed he only benefited by £1,200 from his part in the drugs gang.
But under the Proceeds of Crime Act, a judge has ruled Booth will have to pay back almost £33,000 or face a longer spell in prison.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has the power to seize his property, including his house in Hedon, and car to recoup the money.
Recorder Tony Hawks told Booth: "These sums are payable within six months and the period in default is 18 months imprisonment."
Humberside Police's senior finan- cial investigator Lorraine Baines said: "Anyone involved in drug trafficking should be aware that they put their families at risk of losing their home and possessions as a direct consequence of their criminal lifestyle.
"The confiscation investigation into Booth has been conducted by the Regional Asset Recovery Team (Rart) based in Leeds.
"The North East team is made up of specialists who use their considerable skills, together with the powerful tool of the Proceeds of Crime Act to strip proven criminals of their assets gained through criminal activity."
The team examined Booth's bank accounts over the past six years. He had to explain the source and legitimacy of all the funds transferred into his accounts.
Booth was jailed along with seven others, including former landlord George Rowley, chef Christopher Coles and ex-drugs mentor Peter Brook, for a combined total of almost 30 years.
Police caught the gang after launching an undercover sting known as Operation Beech into the supply of cocaine and ecstasy and the passing of counterfeit money in the area.
Booth was described as a "lieutenant" and the CPS claimed he was "pivotal" to introducing all the other defendants to each other.
He was said to have used contacts he had made throughout his boxing career to obtain drugs and counterfeit currency for his accomplices.
Undercover officers were supplied with £20,320 of cocaine and £12,000 in counterfeit euros throughout a seven-month investigation.
Three other members of the gang benefited by almost £40,000 but, as they have no assets, they have only been ordered to pay back a nominal amount of £1 each.
Mechanic John Kiel, of east Hull, who had pressed the cocaine in his garage and Coles, who supplied drugs to undercover officers, were both ruled to have benefited through their criminal conduct by £16,080 each.
Marc Agius, who was Booth's contact and supplied drugs to officers in Willerby Road, west Hull, was deemed to have benefited by £4,560.
Comments
by elefantncasle
Saturday, October 13 2012, 1:35AM
“The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) should monitor his accounts for the rest of his life, in case some money "appears" in the future.
Booth is Guilty, he was tried by a court and is a proven Drug Dealer and Supplier of counterfeit money, he is lucky to be alive, in many Countries he would have received a death sentence.
It will cost the honest working tax payer more than this amount (£33,000)to keep him in his cell for this extra 18 months if he doesn't pay,
Booth will be happy and enjoying his time, with his television, his meals provided each day and his time spent with his fellow cronies .
If people in Hull stopped looking up to Convicted Drug Dealers like Booth and recognise that they are not modern day "Robin Hood" characters, ( they are in it for themselves) we would have a fantastic City
Everyone who knows Booth knows that he might be "thick" as people state, but he is also very "street wise", he has had years of practice, look at his close friends and associates, each of these people should also be followed,bugged or whatever it takes. Not just the ones convicted with him ,but all the "others" as well.
As a Sportsman he has brought Boxing into disrepute , as a family man he has shamed his family, he is not a folk hero, a "journeyman" he is a convicted lying, drug dealing conman
Let's start looking up to "real" local heroes, not convicted criminals”
by peterw6889
Friday, October 12 2012, 10:29PM
“Drug pushing should be a life sentence without parole”
by heydude
Friday, October 12 2012, 4:39PM
“anthony1960 - I agree in the main with your comments, however much as he knows or doesn't know how to work "the system" his legal team I am sure do. I am sure though that he is not being deliberately targeted as if this were the case then that would surely have formed part of his appeal to get his sentence reduced even further. The full legal wranglings of each individuals sentencing I am sure will never fully be known by us.”
by anthony1960
Friday, October 12 2012, 4:21PM
“Heydude,
I was and am not saying for one minute that Booth was innocent or that he doesn't deserve a lengthy sentence. However, he was not classed as the General but a middleman. My comment is that if as a middleman he got 7 years and a £33k proceeds of crime fine, then it is ridiculous that the people who actually owned and supplied the drugs, get far less a sentence than him and virtually no proceeds of crime fine what-so-ever. When, in fact, some of them have been done before for drugs offences.
He is being deliberately targeted because of his name and the headlines it carries and because he doesn't know how to work the system as well as his co-accused.”
by heydude
Friday, October 12 2012, 2:55PM
“anthony1960 - A mug middle man? without his substantial input the two or more parties would not have met, he orchestrated much of what went on. bringing people together, If he was just a mug middleman then why did the courts deem him a Lieutenant when all the FACTS were put in front of them?”
by anthony1960
Friday, October 12 2012, 1:53PM
“Its such a pity that the people who actually owned these drugs, didn't get deserved sentences and even yet more deserved proceeds of crime fines. Instead they get a third of the sentence of Booth and 33 thousand times less proceeds of crime fines.
Booth was guilty without a doubt and deserved a lengthy sentence, however he was a mug middle man, a patsy. He's simply been made a scapegoat because of who he is while the big fish in this case, have more or less walked away scott free.”
by localad
Friday, October 12 2012, 12:59PM
“Good, pay up drug dealing scum.”
by Prescotts_Cat
Friday, October 12 2012, 12:33PM
“Should have set up an offshore account in his pets name.”