Shropshire drug dealer who earned £34,000 to pay back just £630

But Craig Lynas will only have to repay £630.

Lynas, 37, was involved in supplying drugs over an 18-month period in the Telford area.

At Birmingham Crown Court his benefit from dealing in drugs was said to have been £34,460.

But a financial investigation under the Proceeds of Crime Act revealed that Lynas only had realisable assets valued at £630.

Judge Simon Drew QC ruled that Lynas enjoyed a criminal lifestyle and on Monday at Birmingham Crown Court made a confiscation order for the £630.

He also told Lynas that he faces a further 18 days in prison if he fails to pay the money within six months.

Mr Philip Clemon, for Lynas, said the money was expected to be available from a tax rebate from Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs.

At a hearing in September Lynas, of Beaconsfield, Brookside, was jailed for a total of three-and-a-half years.

Lynas, who had admitted two charges of conspiring to supply Class A drugs between December 2012 and May last year, was arrested as part of a West Mercia police inquiry, codenamed Operation Sift.

The court heard that Lynas sold drugs to undercover police officers and sent hundreds of text messages offering drugs for sale.

Lynas was said to have played a "significant role" in a wider drugs conspiracy across the Telford area with a degree of management, control of a drugs phone and financial benefit.

The court also heard that Lynas had worked together with an associate named Robert Hacking as street dealers.

Subsequent surveillance of the two men showed them dealing drugs including calling at the home addresses of known addicts.

Hacking, 24, of Willowfield, Woodside, who admitted the conspiracy charges, was also jailed for three-and-a-half years.

A Proceeds of Crime hearing for Hacking was adjourned until January 12.