A JAILED drugs gang leader exposed by police will have to sell his family home to pay back money he made from his crimes.

Ashley Burgham, aged 32, was jailed for ten years and eight months last December as part of Gwent Police’s Operation Mint investigation. It was the force’s biggest ever drugs bust, uncovering a multi-million pound supply chain distributing cocaine and mephedrone around South Wales.

Jonathan Rees, for Ashley Burgham, said he will need to sell his share in his home to repay £137,789.64 that Judge Daniel Williams ordered he must give back.

The judge, sitting at Newport Crown Court, told Burgham he must pay it by July 28 or face a further 15 months in prison.

That money is a slice of the £812,820.63 the prosecution said Burgham, of Tanglewood Road, Blaina, stood to gain from leading the drugs ring, which ran from October 2013 to January 2015.

There were 24 kilograms and cocaine and a further 33 kilograms of mephedrone seized by police when the crimes were exposed.

Burgham’s initial second in command until mid-2014, Michael Barnes, was also said to have stood to gain £812,820.63. But he will need to repay £25,238.42 by July 28 or face another nine months in prison.

Barnes, aged 33, of Whitehouse Court in Abertillery, was jailed for eight years last year.

Paul Ratledge, aged 29, of Queensway in Ebbw Vale, was sentenced to five years and eight months inside, and will be required to repay £1,250. Ratledge must pay that money by May 27 or face another two months in prison. The court was told he also stood to benefit to the tune of £812,820.63.

Fellow gang member Martyn Wood, aged 30, of Brynbach Street in Tredegar, was also said to stand to benefit from that amount. He will repay £2,850. The court heard that will be repaid by selling cars, already in the police’s possession. Wood is serving an eight-year sentence and has until July 28 to give that money back.

Newport man Joshua Dare, aged 24, of Buccaneer Close, will need to pay £11,205 within three months or face another six month jail sentence. He was given 12 months last year.

Aaron Pugsley, aged 30, of Montague Street in Abertillery, was jailed for six years last year, and was said to have benefitted by £4,735 for his role. He will need to pay a nominal £10 by May 27 or be jailed for another day.

Matthew Richards, aged 27, of Bryntirion in Mountain Ash, and Mark Bishop, also 27, of Cwrt Pen Y Twyn in Tredegar, have 28 days to pay £10. Richards was given 12 months in prison and Bishop a 32 week jail term suspended for 18 months by Judge Williams in December. They will also be jailed for a day if that money remains unpaid.

A hearing in July will decide how much others caught for their part of the ring will have to pay back. They will include Ashley Burgham’s brother, Kyle, who was also jailed for eight years and was the second deputy once Michael Barnes quit.

Kyle Burgham, aged 30, of no fixed abode, had been a lifeguard at Ebbw Vale Leisure Centre when he started dabbling with mephedrone dealing before it “morphed” into selling cocaine, Cardiff Crown Court was told last year.