A CARLISLE drug dealer who listed his stash on the back of a police search warrant he’d previously received has been jailed for more than five years.
Officers called at Nicky Lee Griffiths’ Stonegarth home in Morton on the morning of November 15.
They initially found the property barricaded, forced entry, saw 38-year-old Griffiths sat on the sofa and heard the sound of a toilet having been flushed. A single wrap of heroin was found floating in the toilet, and eight others containing heroin and crack cocaine were recovered from the drainage system of the property.
“This was the second search of the address (by police) within a three-week period,” prosecutor Jon Close told Carlisle Crown Court this morning (MON). “A previous search had been unsuccessful. The back of the previous search warrant had been used by the defendant to write what drugs he had in his possession.”
Griffiths – a man with 159 previous crimes to his name – admitted possessing both heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply, and acquiring criminal property. This comprised £450 cash which was found next to a set of digital scales which was found in his home along with plastic drug-related packaging.
The court heard Griffiths had been dealing the illegal substances to fund his own long-standing habit, and had two previous class A drug trafficking offences on his record. This meant he triggered a mandatory minimum seven-year jail term.
Judge Julie Clemitson gave Griffiths a discount for his guilty pleas to the latest offending, and imposed a total prison sentence of five years and 219 days.
Detective Constable James Aiston said: “The arrest and subsequent conviction of Griffiths was the result of good intelligence, planning and quick-thinking at the scene which meant key evidence was not lost.
“Cumbria Constabulary is committed to pursuing anyone and everyone connected to the supply of Class A drugs in the county and today’s result shows the consequences that await those who are caught being involved in dealing drugs.”
