Crossroads for Mansfield drug dealer who faces seven years inside if caught again
A Mansfield man who has been jailed for dealing cocaine and cannabis has been warned he is at a crossroads and faces seven years behind bars if he's convicted again.
Matthew Bradley's car was searched after police smelled cannabis coming from it on Newlands Road, on September 3, 2021, prosecutor Lauren Fisher told Nottingham Crown Court.
Around £1,400 of cocaine was uncovered, along with £320 in cash. Analysis of his phone revealed evidence he'd been dealing cocaine for three months and cannabis for six, as well as links to a drugs line.
While under investigation for these offences Bradley was stopped by police again on Carlton Street, Mansfield, in May 2023, as a passenger in Owen Ashmore's car.
Bradley tried to walk away but he was arrested with a small amount of cocaine, and phone messages showing he'd been dealing cannabis.
A search of Ashmore's car revealed 13 MDMA tablets, 12 cocaine deals, a hammer and a knife.
And his phone showed he had been offering to supply class A drugs.
On Tuesday, Judge Tina Dempster told them: "Time and time again the courts have made it clear people who are convicted of class A drug dealing can expect significant custodial sentences."
She told Bradley he'd been dealing daily with the expectation of "significant financial rewards”, but conceded "part of it was to fund your own addiction."
He was previously sentenced to 37 months in prison for dealing class A drugs.
There were a "number of factors in his mitigation," the judge said, but she attached "only limited weight" to a mental health report because there was nothing to suggest his background affected his culpability.
Bradley, now 29, of no fixed abode, Mansfield, was sentenced to four years and ten months in prison.
She told him he is "at a crossroads", because if he is convicted of selling drugs again the starting point will be seven years.
Ashmore, now 20, of Truman Drive, Hucknall, received a 23 month sentence, suspended for 18 months, with 20 rehabilitation days and a three-month curfew.
Judge Dempster noted he has one unrelated previous conviction, was only 18 years old at the time, hasn’t re-offended and has “managed to pull himself together.”
Custody would mean he would lose his home and impact his son and former partner, she added.