|
Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
|
|
UK: Man spared prison 'by skin of teeth'
Eastern Daily Press
Wednesday 30 Aug 2006 A postman narrowly escaped being sent to prison yesterday after being caught with a substantial amount of cannabis. Ian Massey had initially claimed to have been looking after the drug for a friend when police armed with a search warrant raided his flat last November. But yesterday Ipswich Crown Court heard Massey, 32, of Middle Close, Lowestoft, plead guilty to possession of cannabis and possession of cannabis with intent to supply. Imposing a six month prison term suspended for two years, Judge David Goodin told him: "You have escaped custody by the skin of your teeth". The court was told that police recovered a total of more than two kilos of cannabis from various locations around Massey's flat. Prosecuting, Jamie Sawyer said that £360 in cash together with a set of scales, plastic bags and a price list for cannabis was also recovered. Massey had, after initially denying that the cannabis was his but refusing to name the owner, gone on to admit that he had purchased the drug at a cost of £1,750 for his own use and had supplied a number of other users. He claimed that the cannabis - much of it in 9oz bars - had been acquired because it had been offered to him at a good price. In mitigation, Stephen Rose said that Massey had no previous drug-related convictions and no use of his flat for drug dealing had been recorded before. He said that Massey, who works as a postman and a mini-bus driver, had engaged in "low level" dealing mostly to fund his own drug habit. "It appears that the habit is confined to cannabis" said Mr Rose, who described Massey as being at very low risk of re-offending. Sentencing Massey, Judge David Goodin told him: "The fact that it is a Class C drug these days must be misunderstood by people using it or supplying as an indication that trafficking in it has become less serious. It is not.” In addition to the suspended sentence for the possession with intent to supply charge, Judge Goodin ordered Massey to complete 100 hours of unpaid community work. No separate penalty was imposed for the other charge. Massey was also made the subject of a curfew, requiring him to remain at his home address between 8.30pm and 3am for the next ten weeks. http://new.edp24.co.uk/
After you have finished reading this article you can click here to go back.
|
This page was created by the Cannabis Campaigners' Guide.
Feel free to link to this page!