Man who sold amphetamines from Telford store spared jail
A man who sold drugs from a Telford store has been spared jail because of the time the case took to come to court a judge said.
A police raid on Manor Stores in Dawley in March 2017 led to drugs with a street value of up to £380 being seized.
Craig Bond, 31, of Hollybirch Grove, St Georges, admitted the possession of amphetamine with intent to supply, and the possession of heroin and cannabis at an earlier hearing.
At Shrewsbury Crown Court yesterday Judge Anthony Lowe said had the matter come to court earlier, Bond would have faced a prison sentence.
But, he said, it seemed Bond had not re-offended and he imposed a two-year community sentence and ordered him to carry out 50 hours unpaid work.
Michael Aspinall, prosecuting, said police executed a search warrant at Manor Stores in March 2017 when the defendant was the only person behind the counter.
He handed over his shoulder bag in which police found a small bag of cannabis and a cannabis grinder, a mobile phone and £360 cash.
A search of the store found a bag of amphetamine in the staff toilet and in a box in the shop, a bag of low-grade heroin, and more bags of amphetamine along with clear plastic bags. Scales were found in the kitchen.
Work
The street value of the amphetamine recovered was up to £255 and the cannabis £125.
Bond told police that the drugs found were for his own use and that he thought that the heroin had been a packet of legal high drug.
The court heard that Bond had previous convictions for burglary and drug offences.
Mr Ranjit Sandhu, defending, said Bond committed no further offences since his arrest after the police raid.
The best thing his client had done, he said, was to leave Manor Stores.
"He is no longer in that environment," he said.
"He is actively looking for work."
Judge Lowe said Bond's community order would be hanging over his head.
He ordered him to attend a thinking skills programme.
