Court confiscates £13k from binbag cocaine dealer

Monday 31 October 2022

A drug dealer thought to have made almost £350,000 from his crimes is to have just over £13,000 confiscated from him.

Darren Anthony Reece was sentenced to seven years and eight months in prison for planning to supply £40,000-worth of cocaine hidden in a bin bag in the woods, and having more than £12,000 in cash from criminal activity.

The 53-year-old stonemason was sentenced in the Royal Court in July this year, after pleading guilty to both charges: one count of possession of a controlled drug with intent to supply it to another, and one count of possession of criminal property.

He was arrested following a covert operation by Jersey's Drug Squad, which was reformed last year having been disbanded about a decade ago.

At the trial, Crown Advocate Matthew Maletroit explained that the supply offence was committed on 18 February 2022 when a large bin bag of cocaine was found hidden in woodland near Reece’s home in St. Brelade.

Police surveilling Reece had seen him enter and exit the woodland frequently during the days prior to it being searched.

Pictured: Reece was sentenced in the Royal Court in July.

The bag contained five layers of plastic packaging within which there were three small plastic bags of white power. The contents were later confirmed to be cocaine, totalling approximately ten ounces or 279g. Two fingerprints lifted from inner layer of the plastic bag matched those of Reece.

Reece was then arrested on 1 March 2022 and his home was searched.

A total of £9,000 in cash was found concealed in the lining of a padlocked suitcase in Reece’s bedroom and a further £3,000 was found in a separate plastic bag.

Two mobile phones were seized, which contained “telecommunications consistent with someone involved in the supply of controlled drugs, with numerous messages about supplying 1g or 1oz of cocaine”.

Advocate Maletriot said that the cocaine found in the woodland area was estimated to be worth up to £40,000 in street value. 

Reece is now serving his seven years and eight months prison sentence in the UK in order for his elderly parents to be able to visit him.

Reece was not present in the Royal Court today after the video link to his UK prison failed, but he was content for the court to proceed with the confiscation order in his absence.

The court heard that Reece was thought to have benefited by £343,845 from his crimes but the actual amount able to be confiscated was £13,048.63, which he would have six months to pay.

The confiscation order was not opposed by Reece, who was represented in court by Advocate Julia-Anne Dix.