A COUPLE has been ordered to repay £1.31 million earned from selling steroids made in an improvised drugs lab.

A judge said Chris Young, 55, and Tracy Robinson, 51, both unemployed, lived a “lavish lifestyle” with money gained in their ten years operating their illegal business, Wildcat Research Laboratories.

They owned two properties in Sussex, several cars, property interests in Bulgaria, cash seized from the home address and money in at least 17 bank accounts.

But, they continued to claim benefits in this time.

After being busted in May 2017, they were jailed in April last year for drugs and money laundering offences, and have now been ordered to repay £1.31 million.

This is one of the biggest orders ever issued after a Sussex Police investigation.

They were sentenced at Portsmouth Crown Court on February 11, and Judge William Ashworth said that with the “large amounts of money coming in from drug sales the fact that you continued to claim benefits for ten years would be something that the public would be aghast at”.

The pair set up a secret steroid ‘laboratory’ and factory at an industrial site in Hook Lane, Aldingbourne.

Police investigated the site after receiving several reports of anti-social behaviour.

In a raid, detectives found Young inside an “underground metal portacabin” along with drugs with a street value of more than £500,000.

The haul included more than 14 litres of injectable steroids, 219,000 steroid tablets and 214,000 tablets of prescription only medication.

There were also ingredients for the production of more drugs.

Confiscation orders under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) were granted at Portsmouth Crown Court on February 11.

The court found that Young had earned more than £1.8 million from the illegal business and had £814,861 available.

He was ordered to repay this within three months or face a further six years in prison.

Robinson had gained almost half-a-million pounds from the business, and was ordered to repay this within three months or face a further four-and-a-half years in prison.

They were also found guilty of benefit and tax fraud.

The court ordered that £60,503.10 compensation be paid to HMRC, Arun District Council and the Department for Work and Pensions.

Detective Inspector Mark O’Brien of the force’s Economic Crime Unit said: “Young and Robinson unlawfully benefited from this criminal lifestyle over several years, risking the health of purchasers of their products.

“Often criminals believe they are untouchable by the law and act with impunity, occasionally being content to serve a prison sentence if apprehended.

“The fact that we have seized and now confiscated their assets will impact on and hopefully deter Young and Robinson from following a criminal lifestyle when they eventually leave prison.”