A farmer who made more than £100,000 from producing and selling illegal meat has no assets left, a court has heard.
Carmelo Gale made a small fortune from the filthy makeshift slaughterhouse he operated on his Ceredigion farm, selling the sheep meat he butchered and blow-torched as "smokies". But attempts by the authorities to reclaim the money he made from his criminal activity have drawn a blank.
Gale was handed a suspended prison sentence for his illegal meat business in 2017 but the 63-year-old was back at Swansea Crown Court this week for a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing.
The court heard he had benefited from his criminal activities to the tune of £104,323.25 but now has no "realisable assets" to his name.
However he has agreed to pay £30,000 towards the cost of his prosecution. Ieuan Rees, for Gale, said the sum would be met by "family gathering around to help". The defendant has 12 months to pay the legal billl.
Gale of Lan Teifi, Trefedw in Llandysul, pleaded guilty to a string of food hygiene and safety offences in 2017 after his van was stopped on the M4 north of Swansea .
In the back of unrefrigerated vehicle health inspectors found 11 blackened sheep carcasses along with bags of animal parts seemingly destined for markets further west along the motorway.
That discovery led officers to visit his farm in Llandysul where they found evidence of the illegal slaughter and scorching of sheep.
His 2017 sentencing heard was told he has seven previous convictions for 14 offences with all but one of them connected with meat production.
The court heard Gale believed the craft of making smoky meat should be legalised and he had been doing "evangelising work" to try to bring about a change in the law.
He was sentenced to a total of eight months imprisonment suspended for two years at that hearing.
