Last updated at 09:50, Friday, 08 March 2013

Police will seek to claw back any ill-gotten gains from notorious Carlisle criminal Aaron Giacopazzi and eight other men jailed for their parts in plots linked to the drugs trade.

Aaron Giacopazzi, of Carlisle: Jailed for 16 years after he admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine and mephedrone, perverting the course of justice and dangerous driving

Officers are poised to launch a Proceeds of Crime investigation into the financial affairs of the group of drugs criminals jailed for a total of more than 60 years at the city’s crown court.

Giacopazzi, 47, of Raffles Avenue, was sentenced to 16 years in prison last week while the others sharing the dock with him received jail terms ranging from 18 months to 10 years.

Among them were his uncles, John Carney, 56, also of Raffles Avenue, and Paul Carney, 52, of John Street, Shaddongate. The others were from outside the county.

The court hearing followed a police operation which focused on the wholesale supply of class A and class B drugs in Cumbria but also stretched across the north of England.

The case centred on two drugs plots last year – one involving mephedrone bound for the streets of west Cumbria worth £19,000, the other involving cocaine with a street value of £560,000.

Giacopazzi was involved in both and the judge in the case, Peter Hughes QC, described him as “the godfather of this operation, the essential broker who brought the two sides together”.

Now inquiries will be carried out involving the Proceeds of Crime Act. It allows the confiscation of money that has been deemed by a court to have been made illegally – or cash that is to be used for illegal conduct.

Officers investigate criminals’ assets and finances and work out how much crooks have made from crime. Judges then rule on this, deciding if cash should be confiscated.

Detective Inspector Mike Brown said it was used so that criminals could not come out of prison and enjoy profits made from illegal activities.

“We do it to try to take the cash out of the crime to make it less attractive as an option – to root out the profits gained,” he told The Cumberland News.

“We can look at cars, houses and property.

“We actively try to find their assets and a judge makes an order in relation to confiscation. If they are in default they receive a term of imprisonment.”

Half the proceeds from cash or property seized goes to the Government, with the rest split between the courts, Crown Prosecution Service and police.

The sentence last week was the latest long stretch in jail for Giacopazzi, who had previously received a 10-year sentence in 2004 for his part in a plot to supply £33,000 of heroin.

His other sentences include nine years imposed in 1990 for a bungled raid on a Securicor depot, five years for heroin dealing in 1997 and four years for firearms offences in 2001.

Giacopazzi admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine and mephedrone, perverting the course of justice and dangerous driving.

Paul Carney admitted conspiracy to supply mephedrone. He was jailed for 18 months.

John Carney admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine. He was jailed for four years.

First published at 09:49, Friday, 08 March 2013
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk