Fresh moves are being made to recover more than £80,000 under proceeds of crime legislation from a Tayside businessman convicted over a Forfar church cannabis farm.
Some seven years after police discovered plants worth in excess of £9,000 in the disused St James church after a tip-off that the cavernous property was being used for production of the drug, Calum Menzies was back in the dock at the town’s sheriff court on Thursday for the latest stage of efforts to confiscate a total of over £105,000.
In January 2009, Menzies, from Perth, pleaded guilty to “knowingly permitting or suffering” the old church to be used for growing cannabis during June 2007.
At that time the court heard the businessman had been “horrified” to discover the illicit use of the property, but out of a sense of loyalty to others was in a quandary about what to do and had not alerted police.
The sentencing sheriff said that because of the special circumstances surrounding the case he would spare Menzies a jail sentence and instead ordered the former skip hire firm owner to complete a community service order.
A £106,000 confiscation order was subsequently imposed under proceeds of crime powers, but the court heard yesterday that the bulk of that figure remains outstanding.
Menzies previously blamed a “flawed” system for his failure to pay the money, claiming that strict background checks have proved a barrier to selling property he owns and caused the collapse of his skip business.
The 51-year-old appeared from custody on Thursday having been sentenced at Perth Sheriff Court in May to a 21-month jail term after being caught with £90,000 worth of amphetamine in a Perth street on Hogmanay last year.
Police in that case found over 300 grammes of the drug in the spare wheel compartment of a Ford Transit van belonging to Menzies.
Depute fiscal Jim Eodanable sought a further continuation in the means inquiry case in relation to the confiscation order.
Solicitor Grant Bruce told the court Menzies’ scheduled liberation date in relation to the current prison sentence is November 17.
Sheriff Pino Di Emidio noted that the matter had previously been continued from January to April, and then to yesterday.
He set a new date of November 27 for the next calling of the case.