Kettering coke dealer to repay almost £50,000 - while sister will give back just £1

A Kettering drug dealer and his sidekick sister have been ordered to repay some of their ill-gotten gains.

Dylan and Louise Vanstone were jailed last year, alongside Stephan Wala and Gareth Conybeare, for their roles in a conspiracy to supply cocaine across the town.

The pair recently faced hearings under the Proceeds of Crime Act so cash and items they gained through their illegal activities could be seized.

But Northampton Crown Court heard that, while 36-year-old Louise’s criminal benefit was about £181,000, she only had a nominal £1 available in assets – with a judge making a confiscation order for £1.

Meanwhile Dylan’s criminal benefit was just over £200,000. The 29-year-old, who appeared over videolink from HMP The Mount, has available assets worth £46,094.87 which are with the police including a car which still needs to be sold.

His Honour Judge David Herbert KC made a confiscation order for that amount, with a default prison term of 16 months if it is not repaid by February.

He said: “The reality is if the assets are with the police it’s academic but a figure needs to be set.”

At last year’s sentencing Northampton Crown Court heard that the group had been pedaling cocaine from their homes in Kettering and Burton Latimer. Texts showed Dylan Vanstone’s attempts to buy a kilo of cocaine for £42,000 from Wala on the day of his arrest.

Dylan’s Mercedes was stopped in Haynes Road in July 2020 with police finding a baton, cannabis and more than £1,000 in cash. In his Wood Street home they discovered golf clubs, a baseball bat and a machete. When detectives analysed his phone, they found evidence of drug dealing.

HMRC investigations showed although he’d paid a total of less than £1,000 in tax over recent years, he was still able to afford a lavish lifestyle.

But despite being caught he continued to sell drugs for a further five months.

A further search of his home in December that year uncovered £9,990 in cash on his sofa, expensive watches, designer jackets, jewellery and two bags containing cocaine and cannabis.

His sister Louise’s home in Orchard Crescent was searched on the same day and police found 650g of cocaine of 85 per cent purity, £4,000 in cash in a safe and bags used for dealing drugs.

The court was told she’d acted as her brother's administrator, dealing his drugs, transferring cash and booking him a flight to Amsterdam. Bank transfers showed her brother had given her £9,000, which she claimed was to help with expenses for her children.

A text message between the two said: “Sis, will you drop to me please?”

A judge said Dylan had a successful business supplying class A drugs and that Louise had played a significant role.

Wala was directly involved in buying cocaine from importers while Conybeare was at the bottom of the chain as a street-level dealer.

Wala and Dylan Vanstone were each sentenced to a total of seven-and-a-half years in prison.

Louise Vanstone was given four-and-a-half years and Conybeare was sentenced to three-and-a-half years.