A TOTAL of £100,000 confiscation has been ordered against a convicted rapist and home cannabis farmer.

Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) proceedings were launched following the conviction of businessman Eiraj Zarezadeh for the rape of a schoolgirl, following a trial at Durham Crown Court, in September 2013.

He was jailed for nine years for the rape, but with a further six months added after his earlier admission to charges of drug production and abstraction of electricity.

It related to the recovery of 380 cannabis plants from his home in Grange Villa, near Chester-le-Street.

Police found the plants, in various stages of growth, when they went to Zarezadeh’s Front Street premises to arrest him, following the rape complaint, made in the early hours of Christmas Eve, 2011.

Zarezadeh, now 50, claimed that due to knowledge of a previous conviction for indecently assaulting an underage girl, pressure was put on him and he was coerced into allowing his premises to be used for the cannabis growth.

Apart from the plants, which carried a potential £11,000 sale value, depending on the yield, the police recovered £5,000 worth of growing equipment, while it was discovered an estimated £3,800 worth of free electricity was obtained to power the operation, by by-passing the meter.

Due to the number of plants and potential gains, inquiries were initiated to ascertain his level of profit, as part of the Proceeds of Crime proceedings.

A contested hearing of up to two days was set aside at the court.

But, following Zarezadeh’s arrival from HMP Northumberland, where he is currently serving the latest stage of his sentence, Judge Christopher Prince told the respective barristers to put their heads together, out of court, to try to reach an agreed figure.

The Crown previously claimed there were more than £1m in unexplained credits in Zarezadeh’s bank accounts, with a potential benefit figure for his criminal activities of up to £500.000.

But, Brendan O’Leary, for Zarezadeh, said the defendant had a number of previous “legitimate” business interests, including running a gym, takeaway restaurants as well as property holdings.

When the respective parties were summoned back into court, following several hours of discussion, Christopher Rose, for the Crown, said Zarezadeh’s estimated benefit figure from his illicit activities was agreed at £313,877.37, while the amount of available assets amounted to £100,000.

Judge Prince formally ordered confiscation to the value of £100,000.

The defendant was given three months to pay that sum, with a penalty of an additional prison sentence of up to a year in default.

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