ALMOST half a million pounds in ill-gotten gains were seized from criminals in Wiltshire in just nine months, the Government has revealed.

Wiltshire police took £418,691 from offenders between April 1 and December 31 last year.

Sgt Scott Hargreave, from the crime targeting team at Swindon police, says the power to recover assets is an important tool in the war on drugs.

Vanessa Godfrey and her partner Kevin Connell, of Bosham Close, Freshbrook, were jailed in January for dealing class A drugs and police seized £5,500 of their money.

Darren Mensah, of Wootton Bassett, who led an extravagant lifestyle of fast cars and designer clothes, also lost the profits of his drug activities when he was jailed in November last year.

Sgt Hargreave said: "At the end of the day these people are in the business to make money and if we can hit them hard where it hurts and take their ill-gotten gains then that's the main thing.

"We have seized cash and numerous vehicles and it is all part of fighting the drug problem."

The figures, released in a written answer to MPs, show that police and asset recovery officials claimed a total of £82.6m across England and Wales.

Neighbouring Gloucester- shire Police seized £277,486, while Thames Valley Police took £630,896.

Assets purchased using dirty money' including houses, cars and commercial property can be seized by the police using confiscation orders, which are granted by judges after conviction.

The order can be paid like a fine or the prosecutor may apply to the High Court to appoint a receiver to sell the assets.

Courts can also order cash forfeitures' of any money believed to be linked to crime.

Each force receives a sum linked to the value of cash and property they confiscated and put into a central pot.

Police chiefs in Wiltshire were last year awarded £73,550 as a reward for helping to claw back money from offenders under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Until this year the 43 forces of England and Wales have taken a share of one-third of all the assets seized above £40m.

But now the proportion has rise to 50 per cent to encourage police to go after crime gangs and "Mr Bigs".