One of the UK’s most wanted criminals ordered to pay back just £22k of his £400k ill-gotten gains

The gangland boss lived a lavish lifestyle after raking in the cash from his drug and firearms empire.
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One of the UK’s former most wanted criminals, who was sought by police while on the run in Dubai, has been ordered to pay back just £22,000 of his £400k ill-gotten gains by Liverpool Crown Court.

Gangland boss Leon Cullen, 33, lived a lavish lifestyle after raking in the cash from his drug and firearms empire which saw the North-West flooded with class A narcotics.

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After evading capture and spending more than two years in Dubai, he was extradited back to the UK in February in 2021 and jailed for 22 years.

On Monday, August 8, 2022, Judge Garrett Bryne ordered Cullen to pay back £22,000 in a proceeds of crime act hearing at Liverpool Crown Court.

Prosecutor Frances Willmott said Cullen benefitted to the tune of £391,841.12 from supplying firearms , ammunition and cocaine between June 2016 and January 2018.

Ms Willmott told the court that the police currently hold some of Cullen’s possessions, including a watch and cash, with a total value of £22,830.38 - Judge Garrett Bryne ruled that this is the only amount he will have to pay back.

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At the same hearing, Cullen was also handed a Serious Crime Prevention Order which means he will be robustly monitored when he eventually leaves prison.

Leon Cullen spent more than two years on the run. Image: SWNSLeon Cullen spent more than two years on the run. Image: SWNS
Leon Cullen spent more than two years on the run. Image: SWNS

It also bans Cullen from associating with the men who were part of his organised crime group and restricts him to only owning two computers and two mobile phones at any time.

He must inform Cheshire Constabulary of any vehicles and communication devices he owns or uses and he must tell the police where he is living and working and of any bank accounts he uses.

Cullen was convicted after a covert investigation into a front business, called Future Press Ltd, that he ran with his twin brother Anthony to launder drug profits.

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They used violence to intimidate and exert control over those they believed had crossed them, as well as to enforce debts.

In January 2019, all 20 of the gang - without on-the-run Leon - were jailed for a total of 185 years. Of those, 27 were given to Anthony Cullen.

On May 14, Leon was jailed at Liverpool Crown Court for 22 years and six months after admitting conspiracy to supply firearms, conspiracy to possess ammunition and conspiracy to supply cocaine.

At the time, the police who hunted him for two years mocked him with a billboard showing him with grey hair suggesting that’s how he’d look when he’s released from prison.

Billboard showing how old Cullen will look when released. Image: SWNSBillboard showing how old Cullen will look when released. Image: SWNS
Billboard showing how old Cullen will look when released. Image: SWNS
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Speaking after the hearing, Detective Inspector Rob Balfour, from Cheshire Constabulary, said: “The criminal activity run by the Cullens has earned them, and others at the top end of the organised crime group, a considerable amount of money from which they have lived a lavish lifestyle for a short time.

“We will keep utilising this legislation so not only do criminals have to complete lengthy sentences, their earned assets are removed and their lives post sentence are effected by further financial restrictions until they have literally paid their debt to society.

“I think the public expect us to recover ill-gotten gains and rightly so. They don’t want to see drug dealers profiting from their criminality and it is only right that we recover what we can.

“It’s important to highlight the powers of the Proceeds of Crime Act and SCPOs to help deter and prevent criminals from returning to organised crime but also to young men who look up to and are influenced by people like Leon.”

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