Lovers split meth profit

Traffickers sold to fuel their addiction

FOR the past year two Warwick lovers were separated by prison bars as they awaited sentencing for a string of petty thefts and drug trafficking offences perpetrated to fuel their ice addictions.

The Toowoomba Supreme Court heard yesterday that Ricky-Dean Thompson, 27, and Ainsley Lee, 24, were both introduced to cannabis and methamphetamine in their early teens.

As they matured so did their addiction and by the April 2019 the pair were regularly supplying up to 24 Warwick residents with meth, for 11 weeks.

Crown Prosecutor Matt LeGrand told the court the pair would supply up to one gram or less of meth and cannabis up to a quarter ounce.

“Much of what is known is by way of debt records kept by the pair,” he said.

“They would share the profits among each other equally.”

They progressed to stealing in the months prior to their arrests on July 14.

On June 6 Lee stole perfume from a Warwick chemist while Thompson pinched his neighbour’s outboard motor, on April 28.

Mr LeGrand said the pair were on separate communitybased detention orders when they started trafficking.

Thompson was on a suspended jail sentence while Lee was on probation.

The court heard Thompson was in possession of 3.68 grams of pure meth and 600 grams of cannabis at his arrest.

In sentencing Judge Martin Burns said both showed total disregard for their community.

“Your offending extended over a long period of time and it reveals the depths to which you both sank,” he said

Thompson pleaded guilty to one count of drug trafficking, 16 drug offences, one count of steal, three weapons offences and one traffic charge.

Lee pleaded guilty to one count of drug trafficking, six drug offences and one count of stealing.

Judge Burns sentenced both to three years in jail and ordered their immediate parole, after considering their presentence custody.

Thompson had been in a Woodford Correction Centre cell for 341 days while Lee was bailed after 147 days in custody.