A DEALER caught with three-quarters of a kilo of cocaine in his bedroom safe said it was a ‘big misjustice’ as he was jailed for five-and-a-half years.

The vast quantity of high-strength powder was discovered when police raided Philip Pledge’s room in the Bartlemas Road property on October 28, 2020.

Found on Pledge, 54, was the key to the safe in which the cocaine had been stashed. The amount of cocaine found in the room totalled 789g.

Also discovered in the bedsit was potent ‘skunk’ cannabis, synthetic cannabis and the ingredients to create a man-made class B drug known as ‘spice’.

Pledge, of Bartlemas Road, Oxford, denied possession with intent to supply class A and B drugs and production of a class B drug.

But after a short three day trial at Oxford Crown Court, on Wednesday afternoon jurors returned unanimous guilty verdicts to four counts of possession with intent to supply. He was acquitted of the drugs production charge.

As he was taken down from the dock in courtroom one to the cells below court, Pledge could be seen shaking his head towards the jury and heard saying the words ‘big misjustice’ and ‘you’re so wrong’.

Oxford Mail: Bartlemas Road, Oxford, where defendant Philip Pledge was living when police raided his bedsit room Picture: GOOGLEBartlemas Road, Oxford, where defendant Philip Pledge was living when police raided his bedsit room Picture: GOOGLE

Following his conviction, prosecutor Rebecca Foulkes told the jury that Pledge had a number of previous convictions relating to drugs including in 1997, 2000 and 2007.

Mitigating, Michael Goold sought to persuade the judge that the jury’s verdicts were not inconsistent with his client having held the cocaine for another as a warehouseman.

He pointed to there having been no messages indicative of drugs supply found on phones seized from the rooms.

The only device that could not be accessed by police forensics experts was a tablet computer, which his client claimed he used to watch films. Mr Goold acknowledged that Pledge had not given police the pin number to the tablet.

Sentencing him, Judge Ian Pringle described Pledge’s rap sheet of 53 previous offences as ‘unenviable’ but recognised that his offending had ‘calmed down a bit’ in recent years.

“These were extremely serious offences and very considerable amounts of drugs ready to go out on the streets and cause further misery for people,” he said.

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