A Newsome man, jailed for drug offences, has been ordered to pay more than £35,000 from his assets.
Matthew Joe Jobarteh, 35, was convicted by a jury at Leeds Crown Court last year of possessing cannabis with intent to supply after just over three kilogrammes of the drug was found at his Malvern Road home in 2014.
He had denied the cannabis was anything to do with him and claimed someone had left it there while he was in bed.
That conviction put him in breach of a suspended jail sentence imposed in March 2013 for two similar offences and he admitted a cannabis possession charge.
Jailing him for a total of two years nine months Recorder Anton Lodge QC said he was satisfied Jobarteh had played a significant role in the cannabis found at his home.
He told Jobarteh: “This was a large amount with a street value of £14,000. You had not just cannabis in your house but the packages in which to prepare it for onward dealing and cannabis stained scissors.”
At the same court yesterday (Friday) Judge Simon Phillips QC heard Jobarteh’s benefit from crime was agreed at £109,709 and that he had assets available of £35,979. A confiscation order was made in that sum and he was given three months to pay with 18 months in prison in default.
