A former National Crime Agency (NCA) officer will have to repay £1.8m after stealing the valuable cryptocurrency Bitcoin he seized during an investigation.

Paul Chowles, 44, from Bristol, was jailed for five and a half years at Liverpool Crown Court last year after pleading guilty to theft and money laundering.

After his part in an NCA investigation into criminals selling illegal goods on the dark web, Chowles transferred about half of the Bitcoin seized from a drug trafficker into his own accounts.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) secured a confiscation order earlier that is equal to the value of the 30 Bitcoin recovered from Chowles, which has ballooned from £36,000 to more than £1.8m.