A GANG leader who made £1.1 million by running a massive County Lines drugs operation has been ordered to repay less than £48,000 of his profits.

Joshua Garrett ran a gang which operated on a large scale in Torbay and Newton Abbot for three years before it broken up by police in 2019. He is currently serving a 33-year sentence for the attempted murder of a London man who was stabbed through the head after being mistaken for a rival drug dealer.

An investigation under the Proceeds of Crime Act showed that he had made £1.1 million but that his available asset amount to only £47,601.59.

These consist of vehicles and valuable seized by police after his arrest which will be auctioned to satisfy the order.

Judge David Evans approved and agreed order at Exeter Crown Court. He certified that Garrett had lived a criminal lifestyle and ordered the £47,601.59 to be paid within three months and set a period of an extra year’s jail in default.

Mr Rupert Taylor, defending, said Garret is currently serving his sentence at Full Sutton prison and will only be able to repay the order if and when police auction his property.

Mr Peter Coombe, prosecuting, said Garrett’s family will be given the chance to buy back a watch which had been given to him by his father.

Garrett, aged 31, Asheldon Road, Torquay, was jailed in March last year after being found guilty of attempted murder by a jury at Exeter Crown Court. He admitted drug dealing.

He and his schoolfriend Ben Bramall ran an operation which brought heroin and cocaine from Liverpool to Devon and recruited a network of henchmen to distribute the drugs.

They led the attack on attack on Londoner Tony Dadzie, aged 25, who almost died after being stabbed through the head by Garrett with suck force that it fractured his skull.