A COUPLE have been ordered to pay back more than £57,000 of profit from their drug production.

Police found 88 cannabis plants being grown in the loft at one address and nearly £2,000 in cash at another property along with signs of previous cannabis growth.

The case started on November 7, 2011, when police searched addresses in Littlehampton Road and Rose Walk, Worthing, under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

A search at Littlehampton Road, owned by David Chapman, now 52, revealed the 88 plants. Herbal cannabis, grip-seal bags, £380 in cash and some cocaine was also seized.

At Rose Walk, Chapman's family home, cash totalling £1,975 was found wrapped in a plastic bag outside a bedroom window while an outbuilding in the garden showed signs of having previously been used to grow cannabis although no plants were found.

Police were also led to an address in Salvington Road, Worthing, linked to Chapman through his girlfriend Bussakorn Rea, now 41. There, 24 cannabis plants were found growing in the loft as well as some cocaine and herbal cannabis along with £1,000 in cash.

In both growing cases, the electricity had been bypassed - a tactic normally carried out with generators to avoid paying suspiciously high utility bills.

Financial analysis showed a dramatic increase in cash deposits to Rea's bank account around the time she started dating Chapman, until she was arrested.

On October 1, 2014, at Chichester Crown Court, Chapman pleaded guilty to production of cannabis and possession of criminal property and was sentenced to four and a half years in prison.

Rea pleaded guilty to allowing her address to be used for production and was sentenced to 10 months imprisonment.

At a hearing at Chichester Crown Court on July 17, Chapman and his girlfriend Rea were given confiscation orders under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA).

Chapman is required to pay £37,413.72 and Rea must pay £20,143.99. Both were given six months to pay and if they fail to do so will be liable to prison sentences of a further 12 months each, and will still have to pay.

Detective inspector Mick Richards of the Sussex Police Economic Crime Unit said: "This is another of the ways in which wherever possible we now target not just the criminals but also the profits of their crimes, whether they are from drug-dealing or any other form of criminal activity."

Funds seized by the courts through POCA orders go to the central Government exchequer. However, some of this goes back to law enforcement. POCA-derived funding is distributed equally between the police and crime commissioner and the chief constable. Sussex Police receive 50% cash back from such forfeitures and 18.75% cash back from seized confiscation orders. The force currently employs an extra six financial investigators and two financial intelligence officers from part of these funds to continue seizing criminal assets, with the remainder being used to support crime reduction and diversion projects.