Nearly £10,000 of ill-gotten cash seized from drug dealers has been donated to a food bank.
Every month, thousands of pounds are seized from drug dealers who appear for sentence before Liverpool Crown Court. And in a new scheme established by judges at the beginning of 2022, this cash is now being donated to a nominated charity of the month.
One of these beneficiaries has been Compassion Acts, which supplies seven food banks in the Southport area. The charity was nominated as the recipient for June by the Honourary Recorder of Liverpool Andrew Menary QC, the city's top judge.
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Merseyside Police's Detective Inspector Jennie Beck recently visited the organisation in order to hand over a cheque totalling £9,663.97. More than £50,000 was given to good causes during the first six months of the court's Operation Payback.
DI Beck said: "This is a brilliant scheme and one that Liverpool Crown Court is rightly proud of. Operation Hammer, supported by the Home Office-funded Project Adder, is pleased to be involved with the payback scheme and to see monies from possession with intent to supply investigations channelled back into the communities and used for good.
"One of our key policing goals is prevention. Seizing funds from drug dealers to support our communities is one way we can help those communities to build and thrive, leading to better lives and outcomes for them.
"In addition, we are also intending to ask Merseyside Police staff to donate items to local food banks over the coming weeks via internal collection points. We recognise that the situation is desperate for many people right now and we want to help personally."
Compassion Acts' partnerships manager Arianne Clarke added: "Demand is increasing across all our services, and we are expecting this to continue as the cost-of-living crisis deepens this winter. At the same time we are experiencing a fall in public donations because many of our supporters are being hit by increased costs, so this money will really help across the whole charity to make sure we can continue to meet demand and be there for people in need."
Other recipients of these monies to date have included Knifesavers, Wirral Women and Children's Aid, Evolve, James Place and Mersey Water Rescue. Judge David Swinnerton, who is leading on the charity scheme for the court, said: "So far in 2022 we have made orders totalling around £51,973.19.
"The success of this scheme has involved cooperation between the police, the courts and the charities. It has also required, and got, the enthusiastic support of the court staff.
"We certainly feel motivated by being able to directly aid small local charities for the benefit of the people of Merseyside. We can’t help everyone at once, and we are trying to spread our help across a broad spectrum – knife crime, domestic abuse, drugs education, male suicide prevention, water safety and poverty relief so far.
"We also want to assist across the whole geographic area covered by the court. But over the course of the next few years we should be able to do a great deal of good locally with that money."
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