POLICE are trying to seize £32,000 a drug dealer made from his illegal activity.

Last November, Steven Nyland, of Edmond Road, Sedbury, near Chepstow, was given a 20-month jail term suspended for two years after admitting he produced cannabis at his home and possession with intent to supply.

He was due at Gloucester Crown Court for a confiscation hearing on Monday but was absent and gave no reason why.

Alan Hopkinson, from the Gloucestershire Police financial investigation unit, said he had assessed Nyland’s benefit from crime at a little over £32,000.

But Mr Hopkinson said he was having difficulty reaching agreement with Nyland about his assets which are available for confiscation.

Joe Maloney, representing Mr Nyland, said he did not know why he had not attended the hearing, but that Mr Nyland has “real health issues”.

Judge Jamie Tabor QC adjourned the hearing until Monday, March 24 and said Nyland should attend then.

At Nyland’s hearing last year, the court was told he started to grow cannabis to try to make money after he had to pay a £500 bill for his car and a vet’s bill for his dog.

And a neighbour who smelled drugs from Nyland’s garage called the police last May.

When they arrived, they saw Nyland’s clothes stained green by cannabis after he emerged from his garage, where 54 cannabis plants and 19 seedlings were stored.

The potential yield of the crop was worth £3,137 and he had 494.2 grams of cannabis ready to sell.

He has been unable to work since an accident at his own electrical engineering business 15 years ago and at a hearing last November Judge William Hart said he would not jail Mr Nyland because his was an “exceptional” case and was sympathetic to his circumstances.

Nyland told police he does not use cannabis himself but he had been financially desperate and decided to grow it to pay his debts.