6 hours Ago By [email protected] (Martin Naylor)
A young drug dealer was back to his old tricks just over two weeks after being given a chance to avoid prison for similar offences. Nottingham Crown Court heard how James Handley ran from police in West Bridgford only to be chased and caught. The 22-year-old had cocaine and ketamine on him and further drugs and cash were found during a search of his East Leake home.
Messages on his phone proved he was offering drugs for sales including one reference to £10,000, prosecutor Sam Jones said. But a combination of factors including the length of time it has taken to bring this to court and the defendant making efforts to turn his life around since, have saved him once again from his first taste of custody. Handing him a two-year prison term, suspended for two years, Judge Stuart Rafferty said: “You of all people should know that self-medicating with class A drugs does nothing to help anybody, particularly people with mental health difficulties like you have.
It is not clear how you became involved in this and perhaps I don’t need to know. But what I do know is that if I had been sentencing you nearer to 2022 when these offences took place rather than in late 2024, the court would be in a different position. “But to your credit you have knuckled down and started to rebuild your life and I understand what the horrors of prison would do to a man like you.
For all of those reasons I am going to take an exceptional course. “But if you are caught a third time you will be serving a mandatory minimum sentence of seven years in prison. Goodbye to your 20s.
“Don’t think this is going to be easy because it is not going to be easy.” Sam Jones, prosecuting said police in West Bridgford were called to reports of a robbery at around 6.30pm on August 13, 2022.
He said they spotted Handley fleeing down Stamford Road, onto a bicycle path and then double back on himself where he was caught. The prosecutor said: “A struggle ensued between the officer and the defendant and during it he dropped a bag on the floor which contained dals of white powder. “He was arrested, his home was searched and cash and more deals were forensically examined and found to be cocaine and ketamine.
Phones were also seized and analysed which showed he was managing his own drugs line, selling directly to users and on one message a value of £10,000 was discussed. “This offence took place 15 days after a community order was imposed (for supplying drugs). He has two convictions for three offences.
" Handley, of Osier Fields, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply both class A and class b drugs. As part of the suspended sentence order, the judge ordered the defendant to take part in a six-month drug monitoring requirement and a 12-month mental health treatment programme as well as 20 rehabilitation sessions..
