29/09/2007 00:00:00
UK: People who deal in drugs must go to jail
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A MIDDLEWICH man has been jailed for eight months after being caught
growing cannabis in a flat above Reflections.
Matthew Flaherty, of Wheelock Street, was also convicted of possession
of cannabis with intent to supply at Chester Crown Court on Friday.
The 31-year-old was arrested after police found cannabis plants, a
quantity of cannabis skunk and drug dealing paraphernalia when they
swooped on the pub in March.
A team of more than 15 police officers searched Reflections, in Wheelock
Street, for two and a half hours on March 23 as part of Operation Dawn.
The operation involved officers from the community action team and
police search dogs as part of a crackdown on drugs in Middlewich.
Flaherty initially denied cultivating the drug for commercial sale but
changed his plea to guilty just as the case was set to go to trial.
Simon Mills, prosecuting, said police found two bags containing a total
of 41g of skunk, along with four cannabis plants, scales with traces of
cannabis, £400 in cash, a meat cleaver, an air rifle and 100 zipper bags.
Mr Mills said a mobile phone was also seized and contained texts that
proved Flaherty was running a modest, commercial dealing operation'.
Anthony Longworth, defending, said Flaherty had been a regular cannabis
user and decided to grow some to finance his habit and had only been
selling to his friends.
Sentencing, Judge Simon Killeen said he had no option but to jail Flaherty.
"The courts have made it absolutely plain that people who deal in the
commercial supply of drugs must go to jail. This type of cannabis does
have particularly harmful effects," he said.
Flaherty was ordered to serve eight months for possession with intent to
supply and two months for cultivating the plants. The sentences will run
concurrently.
http://www.thisischeshire.co.uk/
Source:
http://www.ukcia.org/news/shownewsarticle.php?articleid=12874
Author:
thisischeshire.co.uk via UKCIA
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