Jailed County Lines drug dealer had base at Shrewsbury home
A County Lines drug dealer who set himself up in the home of a vulnerable Shrewsbury man will repay more than £3,000 from his ill-gotten gains.
Issa Tyrell Sterling agreed to sign over cash totalling £2,495.60, as well as £560.60 worth of drugs which had been seized when he was arrested, during a proceeds of crime hearing on Friday.
He was locked up for a total of five years last March.
The court was told that Sterling, now 24, lived in Pitsford Street, Birmingham.
However, he used a home in the Castlefields area of Shrewsbury as a base to deal drugs – a process known as cuckooing.
But following a tip-off in November 2017 police armed with a warrant visited the property and Sterling was found with heroin, crack cocaine and the cash.
He was arrested and subsequently sentenced to four years in prison for possessing heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply, as well as an additional 12 months for a previous drugs offence.
Forfeiture
At the latest crown court hearing Mr Brendan Reedy, speaking in mitigation for the defendant, said Sterling had consented to the confiscation order.
Sterling now has two months to pay or serve an extra 28 days in prison in default.
The court also ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the drugs, a mobile telephone and drug dealing items. He must also pay the victims’ surcharge at a sum to be fixed when he is released.
When he was sentenced Detective Inspector Dafydd Jones, of West Mercia Police, said: “Our officers are committed to disrupting the activity of drug dealers like Sterling and are determined to root out people who come to Shropshire simply to profit from the illegal sale of drugs.
“It’s vitally important that members of the community continue come forward to offer information to police about drugs and suspicious activity, including vulnerable people being targeted by these kind of people.”
