A PAISLEY drug dealer who was caught with £40,000 in cash in a tin when police raided his home has been ordered to hand over £37,000 under proceeds of crime laws.

Officers discovered the cash when they searched the property Donald Carvil, 47, was using to grow cannabis.

The town’s sheriff court heard that police raided the Greenlaw Crescent home in July 2014, discovering the money and a cannabis cultivation with 34 flourishing plants – worth anywhere between £6,800 and £20,400.

They found a sophisticated cannabis farm in the loft of the property, complete with tents, extractor fans, heat lamps and a ventilation system.

They also found £40,240 in a tin, which was seized by officers investigating him.

He was arrested and charged with being concerned in the supply of drugs and was due to go on trial at Paisley Sheriff Court.

But Carvil, who moved to Glasgow’s Knightswood area following the bust, pleaded guilty to two charges under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 at a pre-trial hearing last year.

He admitted growing and selling the class B drug but claimed the money was his inheritance following the death of a relative and sentence was deferred for background reports.

When he returned to the dock in November defence solicitor Gordon Ritchie explained: “He was growing the cannabis for his own personal use. He had a very heavy usage of cannabis.

“What was left over, what wasn’t being used by himself, he would sell to a small group of friends – primarily to recoup the cost of setting his cultivation up, but also to meet the costs of continuing the cultivation.

“He was not the sort of cannabis dealer who was selling to all and sundry.

“The £40,000 is not listed on the indictment and he has a perfectly acceptable and legitimate reason for that money being in his house.”

As he locked Carvil up for 16 months in November, Sheriff Seith Ireland said: “I’ve thought anxiously about this.

“As your lawyer rightly states, I have to leave aside the question of the £40,000 in the tin – I’ve put that entirely out of my mind."

“When it comes to making my decision, it’s not to be considered.

“Quite a sophisticated procedure was required in order to produce these plants.

“No other disposal other than custody is appropriate.”

A confiscation hearing was schedule for this month and, when Carvil returned to the dock on Friday, he was ordered to hand over £37,000.

The confiscation order was granted by Sheriff David Pender after procurator fiscal depute John Penman said Carvil had made £40,240 from his “criminal conduct.”

Carvil showed no emotion as he was told the money had to be forfeited.

A court source said: “Carvil was delighted. The police took £40,000 in cash out of his home but, as he only had £37,000 seized, they need to give him £3,240 back.

“He sees this as a win. He got arrested, convicted and jailed but they didn’t get all the money he made and that pleased him.”