Drug dealer is sent to prison for 18 months

Drug dealer is sent to prison for 18 months

13 April 2016

A BALLYNAHINCH drug dealer has been jailed for 18 months after a judge heard how he boasted his drugs were “high grade and lethal.”

At Downpatrick Crown Court, 25 year-old William Welsh was told his sentence, six months of which will be spent behind bars, was also elevated because of his active pursuit of customers.

Warning that courts are determined to stamp out the supply of drugs, Judge Piers Grant said those, like Welsh,who sell drugs are causing an “enormous amount of damage to individuals and to society generally.”

The court heard that Welsh, of Windmill Street, began to use cannabis when he was 15 and began to sell it towards to end of 2014, after he lost his job, to help support his habit.

He came to the attention of police on February 2 last year in a vehicle parked on double yellow lines in Ballynahinch.

When police approached the car they detected the smell of drugs and a search uncovered £295 of cash divided into small bundles, a quantity of cannabis and a cannabis grinder.

Welsh first avoided police by running away across wasteland before being caught at his father’s house.

Although he first denied selling the class B drug, he later admitted he had been dealing the drug for three months after police accessed text messages in which he detailed the price of his drugs and also boasted of the profits he could make.

The court heard he also approached customers offering drugs, rather than waiting for people to come to him.

Admitting that Welsh had at first “prevaricated” about the charges against him, a defence barrister said the defendant was from a stable family but had fallen in with a “negative peer influence.”

“He has been using cannabis from the age of 15 and that has become a problem,” he said.

“The income he earned was essentially using to buy cannabis for his own use. He was in a low mood at the time.”

However, Judge Grant said the case was serious considering Welsh initiated contact and promoted drugs in terms of quality and availability.

“That shows you had significant commitment to selling and supplying drugs to other people,” he said.

“Those who supply drugs must expect custodial sentences for the obvious reason; no doubt somebody first introduced you to drugs and look where you are now. 

“You are somebody who is engaged in taking drugs and eventually went on to supplying. This was, on any view, a significant trade.”