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Maidstone cocaine dealer's flat stuffed with Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Hugo Boss bags and Prada trainers

A prolific drug dealer who blew his profits on posh earrings and designer handbags has been ordered to repay £9,000 - and his clothes will be auctioned.

Ashley Nation, 36, from Maidstone, was jailed for four years and nine months after admitting drugs charges.

Ashley Nation
Ashley Nation

Now financial experts have worked out that his benefit from his illegal deals topped £116,447.

Nation, of Tonbridge Road, has assets of £9,174 which were ordered to be confiscated.

Officers who searched his flat found a number of high value luxury goods and almost £3,000.

Maidstone Crown Court heard at his trial how plastic packaging had been flushed down a toilet and white powder discovered around the toilet bowl.

Ashley Nation is led out of his Tonbridge Road flat
Ashley Nation is led out of his Tonbridge Road flat
Cash seized during the raids
Cash seized during the raids

An investigation found between August 2017 and May 2019 a total of £81,695 in cash deposits had been made to a bank account linked to Nation.

The only time the deposits stopped was when he had been serving a prison sentence.

On a separate occasion, Nation was again arrested and more high value goods worth more than £30,000 were seized.

Louis Vuitton, Hugo Boss and Gucci bags, Prada trainers, earrings and expensive TVs were found.

Designer bags seized from the flat in Tonbridge Road, Maidstone
Designer bags seized from the flat in Tonbridge Road, Maidstone

An Audi car was also confiscated which contained around £1,000 while officers found cannabis and cocaine in a second car which was later linked to Nation.

Nation pleaded guilty to money laundering and supplying drugs.

Now he has returned to court under the Proceeds of Crime Act where judge Recorder Simon Stirling ruled that he had enjoyed a "criminal lifestyle" and had pocketed £116,447.

Prosecutor Kieran Brand said that a probe into his assets revealed that only £9,174.56 is recoverable.

The judge said his clothes are to be auctioned and he now has three months to pay the money or face another six months behind bars.

At the time of his sentencing Detective Constable James Arnold said: "Ashley Nation is a repeat offender, who was dealing drugs on a significant level even when he was released on licence following a previous custodial sentence.

"Rest assured that now he is back in prison our next step will be to use the Proceeds of Crime Act as a means to claw back any criminal gains from which he has benefitted."

Police raid Nation's flat

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