A street dealer was aged 17 when he was stopped by police with two phones, scales contaminated with Class A drugs, £100 and an assortment of different coloured Rizla papers. Despite the offences dating back to 2019, it has take more than two years for his case to come to court.
Tyreece Moran, now 19, pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of diamorphine and crack cocaine. Police stopped him in Clifton on September 9, 2019. One of the phones chased up debts for Class A drugs and the second was a “drugs line” used for supplying drugs.
Nottingham Crown Court heard the phones were not his and he had been asked by another to supply for about two months to reduce a debt he owed. Jon Fountain, prosecuting on Tuesday, March 22, described Moran’s role as “significant role in street dealing”. Delays were down to the analysis of the mobile phone evidence.
Read more: Facebook friend tried to strangle woman
A drugs expert report was dated July 2021. “So police have taken an inexcusable amount of time in submitting the case,” said Mr Fountain. “It is certainly not Mr Moran’s fault.”
Judge Mark Watson, who sentenced Moran, said there was an obligation to have young people processed through the courts as quickly as possible and “police have dragged their heels”, and the net effect is, “someone stopped at 17 is now 19”.
Moran, of Brooksby Lane, Clifton, had stayed out of trouble ever since. He received 20 months in youth custody, suspended for 18 months, and 20 rehabilitation activity days.
Judge Watson said Moran was involved for a short period of time in the offences. He was stopped in September 2019 when he was 17. “To a certain extent you were exploited because of the debt you owed,” he told Moran. “You are now 19. This has been an unacceptable delay, which is not your fault but the fault of the police who failed to deal with your case without a sense of expedition and have failed to deal with your case swiftly.”
Nottinghamshire Live has contacted Nottinghamshire Police for comment.