Cops missed Sutton dealer's drugs in first search as car was in such a state
A Sutton cocaine dealer who was nabbed twice within a fortnight claimed drugs found the second time had been missed by police “because of the state of his car” when they first searched it.
Neil Bramley “appeared nervous and seemed to be moving items in the vehicle” when he was pulled over on Alfreton Road on November 3 last year, said Steven Gosnell, prosecuting.
Officers found £1,108 in cash in the armrest of the car and 33 small deal bags of cocaine, valued between £960 and £3,900.
“Unusually the drugs were not weighed and that’s why there is such a wide valuation,” Mr Gosnell said. “It’s quite clear they were packaged for street supply.”
Bramley told police he needed money urgently to pay off £3,000 in debts and court fines.
But he was stopped by police again on Stoneyford Road, Stanton Hill, at 2am on November 18.
This time 14 deals bags of cocaine, again unweighed but valued between £780 and £1,400, were discovered in a gold rectangular vape box, along with £85 in cash in the centre console.
Nottingham Crown Court heard he has previous convictions for theft from an employer from 2016 and threatening behaviour from 2023.
Luc Chignell, mitigating, said the first offence was “totally out of character” and called it "a one-off”.
"He maintains the phone messages were on the phone when he bought it from a pawn shop,” he said. “He is not even a drug user. He is a limited man. He wasn't pressured into doing it.
“He needed to pay some debts and he made this confounding decision, which makes no sense to him or anyone else, to sell class A drugs. He didn’t realise the court fine was being deducted from his benefits.”
Mr Chignell described locking up Bramley as “a waste of a prison cell” adding he has tried to rehabilitate himself while on remand.
He will struggle to stand up for himself in prison and has been diagnosed with autistic traits, he added.
Bramley, aged 33, of Swanson Avenue, Huthwaite, admitted two counts of possessing class A drugs with intent to supply at previous hearings.
Jailing him for 32 months on Tuesday, Judge Julie Warburton said: “No doubt you know that buying and selling drugs is illegal and yet you chose to do it.”