A PENSIONER stashed £500,000 behind a toilet cistern and £51,000 in a wardrobe at a chalet in Allhallows, a court has been told.

Convicted drug dealer Peter Wells, 70, whose main home is in Cranham, Essex, has now been told he must hand over £632,400 under proceeds of crime legislation, having been unable to account for the origin of the money.

Sevenoaks Magistrates' Court, which heard the seizure of assets application from Kent Police, was told Wells was stopped near Bluewater on August 9, 2007, for a minor traffic offence.

When he was asked by officers what items he had in the car, he admitted he had £80,000 in cash in a holdall, which he said was for buying trousers in the shopping complex.

When he could not say where the large number of notes had come from, Wells was arrested on suspicion of money laundering.

The investigation linked Wells with the Allhallows chalet and a search uncovered the hoard in a holdall and the half-a-million pounds stuffed into a home-made void behind the toilet.

Wells told officers he had won £100,000 on the Lottery, but failed to give a reasonable explanation for the rest.

In September 2009, Wells stood trial at Maidstone Crown Court charged with money laundering, where it was revealed he had convictions for his part in a drugs supply network.

During the trial Wells said some of the money was from a scaffold-hire business he ran, and that more than £200,000 belonged to a rich City trader whom he would not identify.

He was acquitted by the jury of all charges at the end of a five day trial.

But despite the acquittal, Kent Police's serious economic crime unit conducted additional inquiries into the evidence presented by Wells at his trial.

As a result it was decided an application would be made under the Proceeds of Crime Act for the forfeiture of £632,400 plus interest of £49,749, as the money was believed to have come from illegal drug trafficking.

During the investigation it was also discovered Wells had an outstanding Proceeds of Crime Act confiscation order relating to his previous conviction for drug supply offences, for which he received a four-year prison sentence.

Kent Police then made a successful application to the High Court in London to confiscate an additional £81,752 of assets belonging to Wells which had been identified by the Kent Police financial investigator.

Wells did not challenge the confiscation order, and was also ordered to pay £2,795 in costs.

Detective Constable Michael Prior said: "This is an excellent example of how a simple police stop check and search procedure can evolve into a detailed investigation into organised criminality.

"Although Wells was not convicted at court initially, by using Proceeds of Crime legislation we were able to remove a substantial amount of cash and assets which we believe resulted from criminal activity.

"We want criminals to know that crime does not pay, and that in Kent we will use every opportunity and piece of legislation available to us to make sure they don't profit from their crimes."