TWO men who were said to be a driver and ‘the muscle’ for a drug-dealing operation in Coventry have been jailed after being caught with £50,000 worth of cocaine.
Scott Sheldon had pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to possessing the drugs with intent to supply, while Reid denied that charge but admitted being concerned in the supply of cocaine.
Sheldon (30) of Pinnock Place, Tile Hill, Coventry, who also admitted possessing a lock knife in public, was jailed for three years and four months.
Reid (26) of Masser Road, Holbrooks, Coventry, who also pleaded guilty to possessing a small amount of cocaine for his own use, was jailed for two years and nine months.
Prosecutor Ian Windridge said that in April the police were looking for a silver Peugeot, and when officers found it in Masser Road, Reid was walking round the back of the car while Sheldon was getting out of the passenger side.
The two men were searched, and Reid was found to have a £20 wrap of cocaine and a book containing a ‘dealer’s list’ of names and amounts.
Sheldon had a lock knife, £594 in cash, two dealer’s lists, and four phones on which were found drug-related messages and a contacts list which matched names on the lists.
In the car on the passenger side was a Sainsbury’s bag containing ‘a significant block of cocaine’ measuring ten inches by six inches by 2 inches.
It weighed just under half a kilo, which Mr Windridge pointed out was enough to make 2,500 street deals, making it worth a total of £50,000.
When the two were interviewed, Sheldon made no comment, and Reid claimed he knew nothing about the Sainsbury’s bag.
He entered his plea on the basis that he was an addict, and had been involved for a short period to deliver small amounts of drugs and collect payment, and to transport other people, in return for which he was given drugs for himself.
Lynette McClement, for Sheldon, said it caused her ‘no little disquiet’ that Reid’s case had been resolved by a plea to a less serious offence than that admitted by Sheldon, who she said was ‘a runner, a street dealer who receives directions.’
She argued: “He doesn’t have half a kilo of cocaine on him, it was in his co-defendant’s car. He doesn’t have the means to purchase that sort of amount, and there’s nothing on the phones to suggest he’s dealing in those quantities.
“He has a lock knife, and he has control of the phones and the drugs. That suggests he’s the muscle, looking after what has value when his co-defendant is driving him around.
“It’s not his car, and he hasn’t accepted sole liability for the half a kilo of cocaine. This started off and a joint charge.”
Aadhithya Anbahan, for Reid, said: “His role was that he was a driver and a courier, and drove others to drug deals. He had no financial benefit, he was paid solely in the cocaine he was addicted to, and he had little knowledge of the extent of the operation.”
Of how Reid had become involved, she explained that at the beginning of the year he had had a fall, dislocating his shoulder, and as a result he lost his job at a foundry.
“He was prescribed medication, but found the pain was unbearable, and took the advice of a friend to use cocaine, and he quickly became addicted because he was taking so much, and it was costing him £40 a day.
“This was a transient period in his life, and it is something he will not return to,” added Miss Anbahan.
Jailing the two men, Recorder Anupama Thompson told them: “Both of you fall within the ‘significant role’ categorisation.
“Mr Reid, your role, you say, was to driver others around who had drugs. Mr Sheldon, you were the muscle in this operation, but you were playing a significant role by having the cash and the phones and being in possession of the block of cocaine.
“You have got to understand that if you get involved with individuals who are dealing in drugs, you put yourself at risk of going to prison for a long time.
“I simply cannot bring it within a sentence I could suspend. You were street dealing in class A drugs.”
