Dug dealer caught red-handed waited nearly five years for sentence

Nottingham Crown Court heard Billy Unthank was aged 19 when he tried to run away from police as they raided a house on Midland Road, Eastwood, on December 14, 2017.

However, it was not until January 2020, that Unthank pleaded guilty to two counts of possession with intent to supply class A drugs.

Gurdial Singh, prosecuting, was unable to give Nottingham Crown Court an explanation for the delays when he outlined the case on Thursday.

Judge Mark Watson said: “I’ll refrain from expressing the thoughts going through my mind at the moment.”

Mr Singh said Unthank was caught with 14 wraps of 48 per cent pure heroin, weighing 1.45 grams and valued at £140, along with 11 wraps of 93 per cent pure cocaine, worth £110.

A further 100 wraps of heroin and cocaine were discovered in the house, but they were connected with Unthank's two co-defendants, said Mr Singh.

Both men received suspended jail terms when they were sentenced in April this year.

The court heard Unthank has 13 previous convictions for 19 offences, and was last in trouble in April this year for drug-driving.

Chris Brewin, mitigating, said: "Your Honour knows these are matters are of some antiquity."

He said Unthank is ‘currently in the process of setting up a landscaping business with his father, because he doesn’t want to subsist on benefits’.

Unthank is now in a relationship, he said, and takes medication to tackle depression.

Mr Brewin said: “My application is to deal with him by way of a suspended sentence.”

Judge Watson told Unthank, now 24, of Baker Road, Newthorpe, he would have handed him a four-and-a-half year sentence if he had been dealt with at the time.

However, he said: “You have a partner, you have prospects for the future.

“It seems to me if I send you to prison for something you did five years ago, that would not be justice.”

He gave Unthank full credit for his guilty plea and imposed a 24-month jail term, but suspended it for two years.