A FORMER North-East gym owner jailed for drug dealing has been ordered to pay back the proceeds of his crime - after claiming he only had the clothes he stood up in.

Champion bodybuilder Martin Yates-Brown, 55, was sentenced to three years in prison last year after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply cannabis.

Yesterday, he was brought back to Teesside Crown Court to face an application under the Drug Trafficking Offences Act.

Yates-Brown, of Darlington, who owned the Classic World of Fitness chain of gyms, gave prosecution evidence against alleged gang members after undercover police officers infiltrated the group.

But the five other men arrested were eventually found not guilty of conspiracy to supply drugs.

At the time of his jailing in December, Yates-Brown said his business had collapsed.

But the Crown assessed that Yates-Brown had benefited from his crime to the tune of £12,500.

His counsel, Peter Johnson, told Judge Les Spittle that Yates-Brown had simply passed on the money he received.

But Judge Spittle ruled he had received the payments and whether he had passed the money on was "neither here nor there".

Yates-Brown told the court he had lost his business and other assets, including properties in Darlington and Yarm, and his four-wheel drive car.

Asked what he now owned, he replied: "I only have the clothes I wear and that is it. I have nothing else."

But the court heard that he had lodged a £10,000 surety with police at the time of his arrest and had a number of shares.

Judge Spittle warned Yates-Brown that if the cash was not paid within six months, he could face an additional 12 months in prison.