Cannabis ‘doctor’ to surrender £560k of “tainted” wealth

Thursday 21 February 2019

A convicted cannabis dealer, who supplied the drug to friends as a treatment for pain, has been ordered to surrender over half a million pounds of his wealth, said to be “tainted” by his eight-year criminal career.

Ralph Lloyd Simon (66) reportedly benefitted from his eight-year stint as a cannabis dealer to the tune of £559,388.72 – wealth which the Royal Court ordered him to give up yesterday following a confiscation hearing.

Crown Advocate Richard Pedley explained that under the law which allows for confiscation, there is no requirement to prove a direct “link between the assets and criminal activity." Later on in the hearing, the Crown Advocate emphasised this point by saying: “All of the money’s tainted… all of the money’s been used to buy drugs.”

Crown Advocate Pedley told Commissioner Julian Clyde-Smith, presiding, who was accompanied by Jurats Thomas and Sparrow, that a search of Simon’s farm in September 2017 revealed a “cornucopia” of money and drugs that spoke to his “extensive involvement in the drugs trade."

Pictured: The confiscation hearing took place in the Royal Court yesterday and centred on the wealth accrued by Ralph Lloyd Simon as a result of his drug dealing.

It was as a result of this search that Simon was charged and eventually convicted of nine drugs offences and three counts of firearms offences for which he received a two-year prison sentence. 

Crown Advocate Pedley told the Court that the Attorney General was seeking a confiscation order to the value of £559,388.72 – a figure which takes into account the value of the drugs seized from Simon’s property, cash recovered from his property, “unexplained” deposits made into Simon’s bank accounts, the purchase of three cars and a boat as well as the proceeds of the years Simon was dealing cannabis.

A bone of contention at the confiscation hearing emerged over two amounts of drugs – 7.27kg of cannabis and over 1,700 MDMA tablets – recovered from Simon’s property which the 66-year-old maintains were left on his property without his knowledge. 

It was on this basis that he pleaded ‘guilty’ to the charges, with the Crown accepting Simon’s account that the drugs did not belong to him and they were put there by someone else. 

Pictured: Quantities of drugs including cannabis were seized from Simon's property to the value of nearly £200,000.

During yesterday’s hearing, Crown Advocate Pedley and Simon’s lawyer, Advocate David Steenson, disagreed over whether these drugs should be taken into account when arriving at the final figure to be confiscated from Simon.

Advocate Steenson argued that, given “those were drugs which had been left there without Mr Simon’s knowledge", it would be "wrong to assess that as part of the benefit accrued” by his client. 

Simon himself even took to the stand during the hearing in order to testify as to proportions of his wealth that he had earned legitimately through renting out parts of his farm to tenants, or for storage space and “supply[ing] firewood”.

Answering his lawyer’s questions, Simon told the Court that he had very little outgoings, saying: “I don’t have a lifestyle. I like to look after the farm, I enjoy it. My partying days are long gone… I just have a few pets and I just like to grow.”

Pictured: Simon referred to his drugs money as "the kitty" when he took the stand at the hearing.

In his questioning, Advocate Steenson emphasised Simon’s legitimate income, as well as drawing out that his client kept his drugs money – which Simon referred to as “the kitty” – separate from his other earnings.

Both of these points were, however, challenged by the Crown Advocate in cross-examination. He demanded to see “evidence” of the amounts Simon claimed to charge in rents by way of contracts or other paperwork – documentation that Simon couldn’t provide.

Crown Advocate Pedley also questioned the argument that Simon kept his legitimate and illegitimate earnings “separate and distinct” by bringing up the “chaotic set-up” at Simon’s home address, remarking that there was “cash all over the place". The Court even heard that a significant sum of cash had been found under a cushion.

“I’m not very orderly,” Simon admitted.

With both Advocates having made their submissions to the Court, Commissioner Clyde-Smith and the Jurats retired to consider their decision.

The Royal Court Commissioner then informed the Court that they had decided to grant the confiscation order sought by the Crown.