A COCAINE dealer from Dursley will have to sell his home after a judge confiscated £20,000 from him under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Last October Leslie Ind, 37, of Rosebery Road, Dursley, was jailed for three and a half years after he was convicted of possessing the Class A drug with intent to supply.

Today he was back before Gloucester Crown Court for a proceeds of crime application and his barrister Philip Warren said he and the prosecution had agreed on a figure of £20,000.

He asked the court to certify that Ind had benefited from crime by that amount and that he had the full sum available for confiscation.

The money would be raised by the sale of Ind's house - probably by auction to make sure it was sold within the time limit for handing over the money, Mr Warren said.

Judge Jamie Tabor QC told Ind that the Proceeds of Crime Act is 'very tough' and he wished more people tempted to deal in drugs would realise how much they might lose.

Mr Warren had told the judge that Ind still does not accept his guilt but had decided not to battle on and to accept that he was going to lose his home as a result of his conviction.

The judge said if the sale proceeds were not as much as expected and Ind was left without enough money to satisfy the £20,000 order he could apply to the court to reduce it.

He could also apply for an extension of time if there was any delay in completing the sale, he added.

At his trial Ind, a hardworking and well-liked handyman had claimed that 44 grams of cocaine found in a McCoys crisp packet in his van parked in his driveway was not his.

He also claimed to have no knowledge of a set of digital scales and a quantity of the cutting agent Benzocane, which was found at his address on July 19, last year.

He said that he often left his van unlocked with the keys in the ignition because "other people used the vehicle."