Mansfield Woodhouse dealer caught with heroin, cocaine and cannabis tried to bury head in the sand
A Mansfield Woodhouse drug dealer who has changed his life since being arrested with heroin, cocaine and cannabis, tried to bury his head in the sand and dodge responsibility, a court has heard.
Lewis Martins attempted to flee when police officers checked the Angel Inn, in Mansfield Woodhouse, for drug dealers, but was caught and searched on July 5, 2023, said Hal Ewing, prosecuting.
They found he had £97 in cash and three mobile phones, along with £840 of cocaine, £240 of heroin and 13.9 grams of cannabis.
The phones contained messages connected to the supply of heroin and cocaine.
David Watts, mitigating, said Martins, of previous good character, had grown up late and is now very different to how he was in 2023.
"At the time he was homeless and on drugs," he said. "Now he has a son and is a stepfather to his partner's two daughters. He is in a very different situation.
"I accept fully much of the delay comes from him not pleading guilty, but there was a delay. This is a case where one can take an exceptional view.”
Martins, aged 25, of King Street, Mansfield Woodhouse admitted possession with intent to supply class A and B drugs after initially denying the class A charges.
"This was classic street dealing, preying on the misery and suffering of others," Judge Michael Auty KC told him on Thursday.
"Now you look to me for mercy when you never had the courage to man up and admit to what you had done.
"As miserable and wretched as that behaviour was, and is, and deserving of imprisonment, time has moved on.”
He said Martins sought to bury his head in the sand but delays were also caused to the prosecution by postal requisition.
The judge told Martin he decided to suspend his prison sentence, "not for your sake but for the sake of your children."
Martins received two years, suspended for two years, with 200 hours of unpaid work and up to 25 rehabilitation days.
"You have come as close as anyone to going down those stairs today," Martins was told. "Don't come back."