Drugs thug told police: You know I only deal weed

AFTER being caught by police, a drug dealer brazenly told an officer: “Come on, Graham, you know I only deal weed.”

Cannabis dealer Victor Sibthorpe, 21, has been jailed for two years and three months.

He was also sentenced for assaulting, harassing and damaging property belonging to his former girlfriend, who was pregnant at the time. At one point he held a knife to her throat, and following an argument about what they would call their unborn baby, he sent her a message which read ‘I will give you a reason to never want to see me again, you fat tramp.’

Manchester Crown Court heard that he was caught with 15 snap bags of cannabis and more than £800 in cash in an area of Cheetham Hill ‘well known for drug dealing.’

He also had two mobile phones and a lock knife in December 2018, prosecutor Gavin Howie said.

Sibthorpe, a father, was separately sentenced for possessing the knife, receiving 10 months at a young offenders institution.

Following his release, his girlfriend said Sibthorpe became ‘obsessive’ and would want to know who she was going out with, and check her phone.

He accused her of cheating on him while he was behind bars and she later changed her phone number and social media accounts, but he was still able to contact her.

During an incident in December last year, Sibthorpe damaged her car, when he had become ‘argumentative’ while she was out with friends. He slapped her, causing her nose to bleed, and threw her phone out of the car, causing it to smash and break.

After Christmas, she was going to an antenatal appointment supported by a friend when Sibthorpe turned up, and later followed them in a car. He texted saying ‘stop the car or he would crash into it,’ Mr Howie said. Later he ‘slapped’ a pack of cigarettes at her stomach, causing her to be ‘terrified’ as she was pregnant. The court heard Sibthorpe blamed her for ‘winding him up.’ She went to hospital for a check-up, but the baby was found to be well.

Then in January, at her home Sibthorpe slapped her a number of times, punched her to the leg and threatened to stab her, before holding a knife close to her throat.

When he was arrested on January 17, Sibthorpe was found with another lock knife.

Katie Jones, defending, described Sibthorpe as a ‘low level street dealer’ and said he dealt for financial reasons. She said he ‘didn’t have an easy start to life,’ and is thought to suffer with an undiagnosed mental disorder.

Sentencing, Judge Anthony Cross QC told him: “Despite the fact that you are only 21, you have an extremely unattractive criminal record. What your record shows to me is that you cannot respond to non-custodial sentences.”

Sibthorpe, of Chudleigh Road, Crumpsall, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply cannabis, possession of criminal property, two counts of criminal damage, three counts of common assault and one count of malicious communications.

Victor Sibthorpe