A businessman who ran one of the UK's largest illegal drug factories has been ordered to pay back more than £250,000.

Kevin Hoare, 46, tricked his family and friends into helping him produce more than £20 million worth of amphetamines, also known as speed, from a secluded barn at his farm near Robertsbridge.

He duped the others, including his sons and girlfriend, into thinking they were making a drug to treat cancer.

Hoare was jailed for 12 years in March but returned to Lewes Crown Court yesterday to hear how much of his wealth he would have to hand over.

The court heard how he had raked in £436,813 in profit from the operation but investigators could find assets of just £288,516.

These included his Mitsubishi Shogun vehicle, interests in the Meridian Finance Company and £150,740 in equity from his farm Bugsell Mill Oast in Hurst Green.

The court was told the property, valued at £700,000, would be repossessed next week and put on the market.

Investigations also uncovered cash Hoare had left with a Porsche dealership and other amounts he had given away to family members in an attempt to stop the courts getting their hands on it.

Judge Guy Anthony gave him nine months to pay or face an additional three years in prison.

In March, Hoare was found guilty of conspiring to produce a controlled class B drug and sentenced to 12 years in prison. He and fellow gang member Graham Pierce, 42, were also found guilty of conspiracy to supply a controlled class B drug.

Each were jailed for ten years, with Hoare's sentence to run concurrently.

During a six-week trial, the jury heard how amphetamine sulphate worth £20 million was found in Hoare's barn when it was raided by police in July last year.

Officers discovered a makeshift laboratory where vats of chemicals were being turned into the drug. There was enough to produce 660kg and police believed drugs had been produced at the farm for up to four years.

The jury heard Hoare used the cover of his glassmaking business to purchase large quantities of chemical components.

He would take the drugs in a van to Pierce's home in south London. Both men were arrested during a delivery of more than a kilo of amphetamine, worth up to £200,000.

Last week, a court heard that while Pierce had made an estimated £70,797 from the proceeds of drug trafficking, he had realisable assets worth just £1,046.

Police had seized £1,000 from Pierce on his arrest, leaving a total of just £46.98 to be paid to magistrates within 28 days.