A bicycle-riding cannabis dealer caught after palming drugs to a customer had been stopped by police earlier that day.

Officers had let Leighton Say, 22, go on his way when they initially stopped him in Witney on May 29, 2020. He had not been searched.

Alastair Yapp, prosecuting, told Oxford magistrates that officers then saw him a short time later meeting a BMW driver. The meeting lasted between five and 10 seconds.

When Say spotted the police he made off down a footpath. Cannabis, thought to have been jettisoned by the dealer, was found in the area after the youngster was caught.

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A phone seized from him showed he had been actively involved in setting up cannabis deals from May 25 until he was caught four days later.

The magistrates heard he was currently on an 18-month suspended sentence imposed at the crown court in June for dealing cannabis in late 2019 and 2020 and holding a large amount of cocaine for another.

John Berry, mitigating, questioned the ‘inexplicable’ failure to deal with the May 2020 case with the ones he was sentenced for earlier in the summer.

Had they all been dealt with at the same time his client was unlikely to have been given a different sentence, the solicitor said.

The magistrates agreed. They imposed 18 weeks’ imprisonment but suspended the sentence for 21 months, meaning all his suspended sentences would end at the same time.

Say, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of cannabis.

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This story was written by Tom Seaward. He joined the team in 2021 as Oxfordshire's court and crime reporter.  

To get in touch with him email: Tom.Seaward@newsquest.co.uk

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