25/01/2008 00:00:00
UK: 10 months jail for =?windows-1252?Q?=91cannabis_man_of_?=
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A DRUG dealer dubbed the “the cannabis man of Llay” by a judge was
yesterday jailed for 10 months.
Richard Harrison’s car stank of the drug when police pulled him over,
Mold Crown Court heard yesterday.
When they later searched his home, they found a light on in a built-in
cupboard in a bedroom of his house in Bryn Place, Llay, near Wrexham,
and a cannabis plant growing.
The cupboard walls were lined with shiny paper.
Various amounts of herbal cannabis were found in the house which
Harrison claimed was for his own use.
But prosecuting barrister Andrew Jebb told the court that police
analysed text messages on his mobile telephone, which clearly showed he
had been selling cannabis between February and May last year.
Orders had been placed by others and police also recovered his replies.
Harrison, 33, admitted possessing herbal cannabis, cultivating one
cannabis plant, and being concerned in the supply of cannabis to
friends, acquaintances and relatives.
Jailing him, Judge John Rogers QC told him: “Only a prison sentence is
appropriate for cannabis suppliers.”
The judge warned Harrison that if he dealt in cannabis on his release,
then the sentence next time would be measured in years.
He said the defendant was “the cannabis man of Llay” and that he had
clearly been trying to improve his financial return by growing the drug
himself.
Mr Jebb said that police stopped Harrison’s car one evening in May last
year in Llay. He was arrested and his home searched.
Three cannabis heads were drying on the gas cooker. The defendant took
officers to a bedroom where in a built-in cupboard some four feet long a
halogen light was over a large cannabis plant.
Herbal cannabis and seeds were seized, together with books and leaflets
on how to grow cannabis.
Harrison said he had bought them on the internet.
Defending barrister Des Parry said Harrison accepted what he had done
was illegal, but he had certain views about the use of cannabis, which
were not uncommon.
He made no bones about his use of cannabis.
He had always used it, and Mr Parry stressed that the operation involved
only one plant.
Mr Parry said it was a one-off incident, when he was left with little
money at Christmas because of the amount he was paying the Child Support
Agency.
Source:
http://www.ukcia.org/news/shownewsarticle.php?articleid=13202
Author:
Daily Post via UKCIA
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