A teenage drug dealer from Brighton has been spared prison after being caught with heroin, crack cocaine and cannabis, hundreds of pounds in cash and a lock-knife.
Damien Burns, 18, of Stanmer Park Road, Brighton, was given a suspended prison sentence when he appeared at Hove Crown Court yesterday (Thursday 7 July).
He pleaded guilty to having heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply at an earlier hearing in Brighton Magistrates’ Court.
Julie Whitby, prosecuting, said that Burns was spotted as he carried out what looked like a drugs deal between Borough Street and Norfolk Square, by the Brighton and Hove border, last September.
He boarded a bus and officers followed him and, when they arrested him, they searched him and his home address.
Miss Whitby said that Burns had 24 wraps each of heroin and crack cocaine. They contained a total of more than 3 grams of cocaine, with 92 per cent purity, and more than 3 grams of heroin, with 15 per cent purity.
She said: “He had a burner phone on him with links to the ‘Zeus’ line which had been active in the Brighton and Hove area since 2018.”
She added that Burns was a street dealer and a cannabis user.
Pierce Power, defending, said that Burns was only 17 at the time of the offence, pleaded guilty promptly and was previously of good character.
He had been a cannabis user, Mr Power said, adding: “He got into debt and was asked to pay off his debt by dealing harder drugs.”
The court was told that he faced the prospect of a custodial sentence, adding: “He is afraid of going to prison.”
The judge, Recorder Quincy Whitaker, said: “You have lost your good character at a young age. You are at a crossroads. I hope that you understand that.”
She said that it was “an incredibly stupid and dangerous thing that you did”.
She sentenced Burns to a year in prison, suspended for 18 months, for having crack cocaine with intent to supply and the same for having heroin with intent to supply. The sentences were concurrent.
And Burns was given a two-month prison sentence, also suspended for 18 months, for having a lock-knife in public. Recorder Whitaker said that the two-month sentence was consecutive, making 14 months in total.
There was no separate sentence for having cannabis or £440 – the proceeds of his criminal activities.
But Burns, who is currently at college, was ordered to complete 60 hours of unpaid work and attend 20 rehabilitation sessions.
Recorder Whitaker ordered the forfeiture of the phone and cash and the forfeiture and destruction of the drugs and knife, adding after the sentence: “How you respond will be critical.”
Wtf .. are his folks Freemasons or something! I really don’t get the UK Justice System !!!
I guess the term child criminal exploitation is lost on the courts and reporters of this article. No acknowledgement that organised criminal gangs protect themselves by exploiting those who are vulnerable. Criminalising the vulnerable ones that have been victim of well planned manipulation while the gangs profit.
How can someone who is deemed too young to enter into a phone contract or too young to make informed decisions about voting, be held responsible for decisions made while under threats of serious violence.