ONE of three young West Cumbria drug dealers jailed last month for a total of more than 10 years has had his sentence reduced.
James Malcolm Murray was locked up for 40 months for being concerned in the supply of both cocaine and ecstasy between early July and early September last year.
Twenty-year-old Murray and two other young men were found together in a car along with bagged-up cocaine deals and cash. Carlisle Crown Court heard police also uncovered plans by Murray and one of the other males to smuggle ecstasy tablets into the Creamfields music festival in Cheshire.
Murray’s punishment was partly calculated by a judge on the basis that he went to the event and executed the illegal plan. But his barrister was subsequently presented with evidence which, she said, showed Murray, of Primrose Terrace, Harrington, Workington, didn’t actually attended the festival.
Recorder Alex Leach, who passed the original sentence, was informed that the prosecution, in response, had concluded it was “unable to prove” that Mr Murray had “more than planned to attend Creamfields with drugs”.
As a result, Recorder Leach concluded during a court hearing this morning (MON) that Murray’s custodial sentence should be reduced from 40 months to 36. “It is only right that the sentence of the court should be adjusted,” said Recorder Leach, who had previously heard substantial personal mitigation on the defendant’s behalf.
But he said of Murray’s offending: “This is a sustained course of drug dealing over a period of weeks.” He added: “The offence remains so serious that only a custodial sentence can be justified.”
