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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Sobbing drug dealer told she will give birth in jail
Leicester Mercury Saturday 11 Aug 2012 A pregnant drug dealer sobbed and screamed as she learnt she would be giving birth in jail. Judge Robert Brown said Cheri-Anne Simons – who had blown a £61,000 medical compensation payout on cannabis use – deliberately got pregnant after her arrest. He jailed the 23-year-old mum-to-be for four months, of which she is due to serve half. She is eight months pregnant. At Leicester Crown Court, Simons admitted possessing 475 grams of cannabis with intent to supply it, as a "sole trader," on November 3. She was given a suspended jail sentence in 2008 for an identical offence. Judge Brown said: "She was given a chance and she's back doing the same thing. It's something I can't put out of my mind." "She's been taking drugs throughout her pregnancy and taking risks to her unborn child." Vasanti Vaitha, mitigating, said Simons had been advised by a doctor that she could not have children because of a medical condition. "Soon after the commission of this offence she discovered she was pregnant," said Ms Vaitha. But Judge Brown said: "She deliberately took a decision to start a family knowing she faces the crown court." Simons received £61,000 in compensation – after her 2008 conviction – after being misdiagnosed and treated for epilepsy as a child. Judge Brown said: "She could have used it (the money) as a nest-egg to start her future life. But what did she use it for? Drugs." Simons was smoking up to £500 of the class B drug on a weekly basis, said Ms Vaitha. Alexander Davies, prosecuting, said that at 8.45 am on November 3 police executed a search warrant at Simons' home in Glencroft Court, Knightsbridge Road, Glen Parva. They seized 475 grams of cannabis, two sets of scales and a mobile phone with incriminating text messages. In interview, she confessed to having a "very heavy" cannabis habit. Simons's family were in court to support her. They appeared shocked by the jail sentence and her mother broke down in tears. Ms Vaitha said Simons, who has been using cannabis since she was 14, after coming off the wrong epilepsy medication, was not supplying on behalf of anyone else. Simons, who had moved to Beacon Avenue, Thurmaston, to start afresh, had been addressing her drug problem with her child's best interests at heart, she said. She told the judge: "She accepts she has no one else but herself to blame." Seven prisons in the country have mother and baby units. http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/Sobbing-drug-dealer-told-birth-jail/story-16692589-detail/story.html
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