A DRUG dealer from Alcester, caught with a wrap of cannabis when he was stopped for speeding, volunteered that he had more of the drug at his home.

Simon Lynn, aged 37, of Aluana Avenue, was jailed for nine months at Warwick Crown Court after pleading guilty to possessing more than £2,000 worth of cannabis with intent to supply it.
Prosecutor Sally Hancox said that at just after midnight on December 11 last year police officers in Studley pulled Lynn over for speeding.

When they approached his car and he wound down the window they could smell cannabis; and on being asked about it he volunteered that he had a wrap of the drug in the vehicle.

The officers recovered the wrap from the driver’s door pocket and arrested him for possession.
In the police car they informed him that they would be searching his home.

But in relation to the Studley address they had for him, he pleaded with them: “Do me a favour, don’t search the address. I don’t live there.”

He explained that although his car was registered there, and he sometimes gave that address, it was actually the home of his uncle, who he said had been ill, adding: “I’ll be straight with you, I live up the road.”

Lynn, who gave them his actual address, admitted that he did sell cannabis, telling them: I’m unemployed and don’t get the dole. It was getting expensive, so I started selling it.”

He volunteered that at his home they would find a quantity of cannabis in a box in the kitchen and in bags on the kitchen table.

And when the officers went there they found one package of cannabis weighing 234 grams, which would have been worth £2,340 in street level deals, as well as other smaller amounts of the drug.

Miss Hancox added that Lynn, who had £240 in cash on him when he was arrested, had been convicted in 2001 for possessing cannabis with intent to supply it, for which he was jailed for 12 months, and was fined in 2003 for possessing cannabis.

Fergus Maxwell, defending, said: “Mr Lynn accepts that in terms of the guidelines, this is a significant role.

“The benefit for him was to fund his own cannabis habit. He has smoked it for a number of years; but the period of time he was dealing was of short duration.”

He explained: “Mr Lynn is a hard-working gentleman with family commitments who unfortunately has an issue with cannabis use.

“He had lost his job a short time before because of his uncle’s illness. Prior to that he had been able to fund his cannabis use through legitimate means.”

Asking for Lynn to be given credit not only for his guilty plea but also for his candour with the police, Mr Maxwell commented: “Perhaps but for that admission, the police would have had to go through various hoops to prove their case.”

But jailing Lynn, Recorder John Edwards, who also ordered the forfeiture of the £240, told him: “You are 37 and you have one relevant previous conviction, albeit over a decade ago.

“You were dealing in cannabis; admittedly on the bottom rung of the ladder, but dealing nonetheless.

“But your attitude to the offence allows me to dramatically reduce the sentence I would otherwise have passed.”