Mail worker Neil Goddard who grew cannabis must forfeit 8k

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A POSTMAN who was jailed for burning junk mail and growing cannabis at his York home has been ordered by York Crown Court to forfeit more than £8,000.

Neil Goddard, 33, of Gale Lane, Acomb, was sentenced to 12 months in jail after pleading guilty last year to delaying the post, claiming payment for junk mail he had not delivered, and burning mail.

During his trial last April, Goddard also admitted growing cannabis, but denied a charge of growing it with intent to supply.

At the time, Goddard’s defence claimed that excessive use of the drug had made him too lazy to deliver the junk mail and that some would consider his crime a public service.

In a Proceeds Of Crime Act hearing, Goddard was given six months to repay £8,119.95, or face four months in prison.

Defence barrister Andrew Semple told the court Goddard had been unable to find work since being released on licence in September last year. Mr Semple also said his client had lost his job with the Royal Mail after pleading guilty to the offences, as well as the cleaning job he took up before he was jailed, and had not been able to find work since his release.

Alan Mitcheson, prosecuting, told the court that recent valuations of Goddard’s house showed the value had fallen since his arrest, meaning his total available assets were £62,235.57. Recorder Colin Burn told the court that Goddard had no cash assets, except household items, and that through his unemployment he was “unattractive to mortgage companies,” and would therefore be unlikely to gain funds by remortgaging his house.

Summing up, the Recorder said: “In terms of the defendant’s current means, it is a huge sum. It is probably not realistic to expect him to release any of the equity in the house.”

Goddard nodded as Recorder Burn advised him: “If you fail to pay the £8,119.95 which it is assessed you are able to pay as a recoverable amount in six months, then the term of imprisonment will be four months.”

The judge also ordered that all drug paraphernalia found in Goddard’s home at the time of his arrest should be forfeited and destroyed.

The items are currently being held by the Crown, and include fans and lighting systems used to grow cannabis.

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http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/5006463 ... t___8_000/
Neil Goddard, 33, of Gale Lane, Acomb, was sentenced to 12 months in jail after pleading guilty last year to delaying the post, claiming payment for junk mail he had not delivered, and burning mail.

At the time, Goddard’s defence claimed that excessive use of the drug had made him too lazy to deliver the junk mail and that some would consider his crime a public service.