A CONVICTED drug dealer is suing a one-time friend for thousands of pounds he is alleged to have given to him to stop investigators finding and confiscating it.

Kevin Brown is said to have asked Nigel Reay to stash in his own bank accounts the money he made from selling ecstasy tablets, amphetamines and cannabis.

He was jailed for three years in November 2005, and was later ruled by a judge to have made £150,000 from his criminal activities and ordered to pay it back to the state.

Mr Brown denied being a drug dealer, but was convicted by a jury, and yesterday told a court that none of the money he gave to Mr Reay was gained illegally.

The Middlesbrough fatherof- five said he asked his former “best mate” to hide the cash – £63,000 in only ten months – so his savings would not affect his benefits.

He told a judge that he made his huge sums of money from repairing cars, selling vehicles, caravans and motorbikes, and “from suing people, left, right and centre”.

The 56-year-old has lodged a claim for £16,784 from Mr Reay, and a civil hearing which is expected to last two days began yesterday at Teesside Crown Court.

He told Judge Brian Forster that Mr Reay returned some of the money after his arrest in 2004, but since being released from prison the balance has not been met.

Mr Brown sat just feet away from Mr Reay as he said: “He was a good friend and to throw it all away for a few stupid quid is ridiculous. I can’t believe it’s come to this.”

Department for Work and Pensions rules mean a benefit claimant such as Mr Brown cannot have savings of more than £3,000 before deductions are made.

He told the court that the money he amassed before being arrested at his home in Dalwood Court, Hemlington, Middlesbrough, was from business deals and compensation claims.

Among the payments Mr Brown said he collected were for his daughter suffering a fractured skull, a son sustaining a head injury at school, and for wrongful arrest.

Mr Brown also said he was among nine former children’s home residents to receive £30,000 in damages, which he used to meet some of the £150,000 confiscation bill.

One of his sons remortgaged two homes to pay the remainder, the court heard, and Mr Brown will use whatever money he gets in the future to repay him.

Mr Brown told Mr Reay’s lawyer, Andrew Crammond, that he still denied having any involvement in drugs, and the case was being reviewed by campaigners.