Dealer caught as care worker finds stash of street drugs
A CARE worker found a bag containing thousands of pounds worth of class A drugs in the kitchen of a home she had gone to tidy.
Derby Crown Court heard how the woman then called her supervisor who told her she must contact the police.
Not wanting to raise the suspicion of Tom Rigby – whose bag it was – the worker went outside and did just as she had been told.
The 21-year-old then left the Sandiacre property after hiding his stash in a drawer. But when he returned, the police were there and he was chased and caught – but not before lashing out at one of the arresting officers.
After being taken into custody, he was spotted “shaking his legs around” and more wraps of heroin and crack cocaine were found on the floor of the police station where he had been standing.
Then, while under investigation for those offences, he was spotted exchanging drugs for money with someone in a car in a Long Eaton street.
Jailing Rigby, of Coronation Avenue, Sandiacre, for four years, Judge Nirmal Shant QC said: “This is not just one offence we are dealing with and there were two types of drugs.
“You are still a young man, just turned 21, and I have read a great deal about the circumstances which led you to become involved in these offences. You were effectively living out on the streets.”
Sarah Slater, prosecuting, said the first set of offences took place on August 7, last year. She said the carer had gone to an address in Sandicare – it was not Rigby’s home – and while she was tidying saw the bag under a chair and looked inside it.
Miss Slater said: “She saw what she believed to be wraps of drugs along with a set of scales. She called her supervisor who told her she must call the police, so she went outside and did so not to raise suspicion from the defendant.”
Miss Slater said inside the bag was discovered large amounts of both heroin and crack cocaine which, if cut down to £10 street deals, could have made Rigby more than £4,000.
She said after being arrested, questioned and released, he was spotted exchanging drugs for money in Long Eaton, in January of this year. Rigby pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply crack cocaine and heroin. He has no previous convictions.
Steve Cobley, mitigating, said: “At the age of 16, he was asked to leave the family home and was living rough and sofa surfing. Others have tried to help him, but last year he found himself associating with a particular peer group and that led to him making some very unfortunate choices.
“But he is now back in contact with his father who has written a letter to the court in which he says there is determination that the defendant will not commit this kind of offence again.”