Rushden man who posed as dog walker forced to pay back profits of his drug dealing

A Rushden drug dealer has been ordered to pay back the money he made from his crimes.

Kyle Beirne failed to turn up for his court hearing yesterday (Monday, April 15) but Recorder Shamim Qureshi said the court was unable to issue a warrant for his arrest so the order under the Proceeds of Crime Act was made in his absence.

The 20-year-old, of Slaters Close, was stopped by police in May last year carrying a large amount of drugs, cash and two mobile phones.

He had been dealing from an alleyway in the Hayden Road area on the pretence of walking his dog.

But, following a community tip-off, he was stopped by police officers and searched.

They found £1,500 in cash and then, during a strip search back at the police station, they further discovered 25 packets of cocaine, 43 wraps of crack cocaine and 31 of heroin – with an estimated street value of around £2,000 – in his underpants.

He was already the subject of a suspended sentence order for similar offences recorded back in 2022. The court sentenced him to spend 30 months in a young offenders’ institution.

At yesterday’s hearing at Northampton Crown Court, the judge was told that Beirne was estimated to have made £4,650 from his dealing. But most of that had been spent. Recorder Qureshi said that Beirne’s recoverable assets amounted to £1,994.10, and he was ordered to pay that amount back.

The court also ordered the forfeiture of the drugs and mobile phones.