A LEDBURY gang leader has been ordered to pay £390,000 after pleading guilty to metal theft and money laundering.

Gary Kitchin, of Oatleys Crescent, Ledbury, appeared before His Honour Judge Parker Q.C. in Birmingham Crown Court yesterday (January 29) to answer proceedings brought by West Mercia Police Economic Crime Unit, under the Proceeds Of Crime Act 2002.

The 49-year-old was arrested for the charges on 27 October 2011 and was later charged with conspiracy to steal and money laundering.

On November 27 2013 following a lengthy police investigation he pleaded guilty at Birmingham Crown Court to both offences.

He was sentenced to 38 months in prison on March 28 last year plus 12 months concurrent for the money laundering and is still in prison now.

Further financial enquiries into Kitchin identified he had benefited from the stolen metal and his criminal activity to a total value of £390,000 since March 2007 and he currently had assets valued in excess of that amount.

All of those assets were frozen on October 28 2011 by the Crown Court pending completion of confiscation proceedings and payment by Kitchin of any amount ordered to be paid by him.

Yesterday he was ordered to pay the total sum of £390,000 within six months with the first instalment, amounting to £120,000 to be paid within three months and no later than April 28 this year. The remaining £270,000 is to be paid by July 28.

From that sum it was further ordered that £84,533.90 was to be paid to BT as compensation for the theft of their copper cabling.

If Kitchin fails to pay up he will be sent to prison in default for another three years and two months. Should that happen his assets will remain restrained and he will be faced with still having to pay the full amount of £390,000 plus any interest that has accrued when he is eventually released.

Patrick Kelly, financial investigator for West Mercia Police, said: "This was a long and complex investigation into a team of thieves who, in Kitchin’s case at least, thought they had gotten away with it.

"Kitchin was predominately hands off and distant from the actual thefts but it is clear from the investigations that he was the one who was making the money.

"He was paying the others for their services but was keeping the lion’s share for himself and living a very nice life as a result. He was visiting his apartment in Spain regularly before his arrest.

"This result should send a clear message to anyone involved, or thinking of becoming involved, in acquisitive crime that, once caught and convicted, not only do they face the prospect of prison but they also face the very real likelihood that they will lose everything they have in order to pay back a sum equivalent to the total of their gains from their criminality.

"Crime really does not pay."