Pensioner ordered to hand over £500,000 found stashed in his toilet cistern

A convicted drug dealer stuffed half a million pounds in a toilet cistern at his Medway holiday chalet. Peter Wells, 70, now has to pay Kent Police £750,000 under proceeds of crime legislation, following a court hearing. He stashed the cash in a chalet at Allhallows Holiday Park, Allhallows, on the Isle of Grain, which was discovered after he was pulled over by police at Bluewater Shopping Centre with £80,000 in a holdall. Wells will have to forfeit £632,400 under the Proceeds of Crime Act, following an investigation by Kent Police’s serious economic crime unit.

Officers from the team made an application at Sevenoaks Magistrates Court to forfeit the cash, which was not contested by Wells. Wells was stopped by officers at the shopping centre by the force's number plate recognition intercept team. When officers asked him what was in the car he told them he had £80,000 in cash in a holdall. He claimed he had the cash just case he wanted to buy something, like a pair of trousers. He was arrested on suspicion of money laundering. Officers went to the chalet and found a second holdall containing more than £51,000 in cash, they also found £500,000 from a constructed void around the toilet cistern.



Wells was interviewed and apart from confirming he had won £100,000 on the Dream Number lottery, was vague about where the cash came from and what he was going to do with it. He admitted he had put the £500,000 around the toilet cistern, admitting it was expensive sound insulation, but would not give any other reasons for having the money. Wells was charged with money laundering offences in September 2009 and stood trial at Maidstone Crown Court. During the trial it was revealed that he had previous convictions for supplying drugs.

Wells said some of the money was from a scaffold hire business he ran, and that more than £200,000 belonged to a 'rich city trader’ who he would not name. Wells was acquitted of all charges, but the police team conducted additional enquiries and made an application to the magistrates court to forfeit the £632,400 plus interest of £49,749, as the cash was believed to be from the proceeds of drug trafficking. DC Michael Prior said: “We want criminals to know that crime does not pay and that in Kent we will use every opportunity and legislation available to us to make sure they don’t profit from their crimes.” Wells, of Moore Lane, Cranham, Essex, was also ordered to pay £2,795 in costs to Kent Police.