A drug dealer’s busy business was uncovered when Border Force officers intercepted an envelope of MDMA in June 2020.
The illicit parcel had been sent from the Netherlands and was addressed to Jon Terry’s home in Witney.
Border Force officers contacted Oxfordshire police, who raided the property on July 9.
As he was being arrested, a phone in 24-year-old Terry’s pocket kept ringing. The arresting police officer noted one of the calls came from a contact called ‘Jesco’ who, when he couldn’t get through to his dealer, sent a text asking ‘have you got any z [ounce of drugs]?’
Also found in the property was £1,125 in cash and drugs worth £3,900. They were 11g of ketamine, 123g of cannabis, eight ‘squares’ of LSD, more than 100 MDMA pills and 24g of MDMA powder and 53 2C-B pills.
When his phone was analysed, the police found that he’d been arranging drug deals since May. He had his own runner, who was sent out to hand over the drugs, and a ‘tick list’ saved on his iPhone detailing those – including ‘Jesco’ – who owed him money.
Terry, of Oxford Road, Witney, had already pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to being concerned in the supply of MDMA, cannabis and party drug 2C-B when he appeared before Oxford Crown Court for sentence on Tuesday. He admitted simple possession of ketamine and LSD.
The court heard he had no previous convictions.
Mitigating, James Keeley told the court that his client had fallen into addiction after the breakdown of a relationship and ended up in debt to his dealer.
He had stayed out of trouble since his arrest, now earned a good wage with a company that fixed equipment for those suffering from diabetes and had a new partner with whom he was now living.
Asking the judge to impose a suspended sentence order, Mr Keeley said: “This young man has definitely learned the error of his ways and will never go back to the type of hellish chaos that he was existing in in 2020. Those days are definitely and firmly over.”
Judge Michael Gledhill QC agreed, imposing a two year prison sentence but suspending it for two years and ordering Terry to pay £5,750 in fines and prosecution costs.
He gave as his reasons for suspending the sentence the delay in the case coming to court and the fact Terry had stayed out of trouble, got a job and ‘proved he can be a good and honest citizen’.
“It seems to me although I have to send a message out from this court that drug dealers are heavily punished and sent to prison, in your case I can suspend the sentence because it doesn’t seem to me to be in the public interest today – as opposed to the day you were arrested – to send you to prison,” Judge Gledhill added.
“All that would do would be to punish you. It wouldn’t do anything to prevent you committing criminal offences in the future.”
He ordered Terry complete 47 days’ worth of rehabilitation programme, warning him that if he committed further offences or failed to comply with probation he would serve the two years.
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