A JAILED Newbridge drug dealer has been ordered to pay back a quarter of the £105,000 he made from selling cannabis.

Stuart Lewis, aged 31, of Elm Court, pleaded guilty to supplying class B drugs after being caught red-handed with more than £25,000 in cash in shopping bags as he fled from police.

Lewis was sentenced to two years and four months in prison in May for possession of cannabis, possession of criminal property and supplying cannabis between June 1, 2012 and February 12, 2013.

At Newport Crown Court yesterday, Recorder Greg Bull QC ordered Lewis to forfeit £25,167.02 under the Proceeds of Crime Act, which is the full amount available of the £105, 297.12 that Lewis profited from his drug dealing over the seven months.

Newport Crown Court heard in May that Lewis was arrested on February 12, 2013 in Aberbeeg after his car was pursued by police for speeding.

The pursuit led to him crashing into a lamppost, when he fled from the scene on foot carrying shopping bags. He was then chased and caught by police officers.

The court heard that police seized £25,167.02 in cash from his person and found 363g of cannabis at his home in Newbridge.

The £25,000 is already in the possession of the police who recovered it at the time of his arrest. It will be transferred in the next 28 days.

A Gwent Police spokeswoman said after the hearing: “Money received through the Proceed of Crime Act is reinvested into community-based crime initiatives and to increase our capacity for financial investigations. Criminals are in effect supporting Gwent Police in delivering frontline policing.

“We target criminals operating at every level and this approach puts resources back into the hands of the law-abiding majority, and sends out the strong message that crime does not pay.

“Recovering criminal assets can have a real impact on serious organised crime and helps make local communities safer.”

Forty projects in Gwent were the latest community projects to be given a share of £157,000 seized from criminals by the Police and Crime Commissioner.

Some of the projects benefitting from the money include Tillery Combat Mixed Martial Arts Academy in Blaina, the Eden Gate charity in Newport and the Lylac Ridge Animal Learning Centre in Risca.