Prisoner who made almost £40,000 selling drugs behind bars is ordered to hand over just a pound

dailyrecord.co.uk:

By James MulhollandProsecutors have seized just £1 from a prisoner who made more than £39,000 running a drugs smuggling operation from three jails.Craig Sutton, 38, made tens of thousands of pounds whilst running an illicit criminal enterprise from HMP Perth, HMP Edinburgh and HMP Addiewell.The High Court in Glasgow heard how Sutton overseen a scam between February 2015 to July 2017 in which dealers on the outside supplied heroin and ecstasy to customers.But at a hearing at the High Court in Edinburgh on Monday, Crown lawyers and Sutton’s defence team agreed that the crook pocketed £39,625 from the scam.Judge Lord Tyre also heard that investigators concluded that none of that sum was available at this point in time.Don't miss the latest headlines from around Renfrewshire.

Sign up to our newsletters here.Lord Tyre was also told that prosecutors and defence lawyers were agreed that Sutton, of Renfrew, should hand over £1 under proceeds of crime legislation.The judge then agreed during that Sutton should hand over the sum.Sutton pleaded guilty to drug dealing charges before judge Lord Burns at a hearing at the High Court in Glasgow in September 2020.On that occasion, judge Lord Burns heard how Sutton was caught after mentioning his criminal activities in letters and speaking about it openly on prison phones.The court heard that the offences only came to light on July 19, 2017 at HMP Addiewell when a fire alarm went off in a neighbouring cell to Sutton.Prosecutor Mark McGuire said: “For safety’s sake prison officers began checking the surrounding cells including Mr Sutton’s which had been locked from the inside.“On unlocking the door they observed a number of people in the cell including the accused.“A smell of burning was