CROOKED cash seized from major criminals has been used to buy 120 kits for a youth football club.

Shotton Colts, based in Shotton Colliery, east Durham, was given strips worth £2,500 seized under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) from criminals – such as bent businessman Brandon Lee Clark.

Clark, of Roundhaven, Durham City, made more than £500,000 from false mortgage and benefits claims. The courts have ordered him to repay £27,550.

Durham Constabulary chief constable Mike Barton said: “We seized £412,000 from criminals last year.

“A local beat officer approached me and said we should spend some on football strips. I only kicked myself that I didn’t think of it first.

“All the children here are proud to wear the Durham Constabulary logo for tackling organised crime on their shirts and they will be our ambassadors for tackling organised crime in the future.”

Money and assets seized under the POCA go to the Home Office, which re-distributes them across the criminal justice system.

Mr Barton said some money was being spent on employing specialist investigators but said it was fantastic that it could also be used to buy shirts.

He handed over the kits to the Colts at Shotton Community Park today (Tuesday, June 4).

Founded in 2000, Shotton Colts has 12 teams, for around 150 youngsters aged five to 12. The teams compete in the Russell Foster youth leagues.

Club secretary Peter Hilton said: “The shirts are a tremendous boost. It’s saved us £2,500 and that’s a lot of money for this club.”

The shirts are blue and bear across the chest the logo of the police’s Operation Sledgehammer, aimed at tackling serious and organised crime.

Detective Chief Inspector Victoria Fuller, from the force’s serious and organised crime unit, said: “Local neighbourhood officers identified the Colts as a really good cause and as their local police force we felt it was an excellent opportunity to give back to our communities.

“Not only that, it presented us with the ideal way in which to engage with our younger communities in an area where we have effectively disrupted organised criminals.”

In February 2010, Clark was given an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for two years.