Drug dealer avoids prison sentence
Community order for 49-year-old with 197 previous convictions
A HEROIN dealer caught with wads of cash and 2g of the drug has completely avoided a prison sentence, suspended or otherwise.
The judge, Recorder John BateWilliams, told Simon Velvick: “Dealing in Class A drugs is one of the most serious criminal offences, carrying a maximum of life imprisonment.
“It is a despicable trade, preying on and profiting from the misery of predominantly young people.”
However, after hearing how Velvick had been allocated a home after living in a tent in Newbury, he said he was able to take “an exceptional course” of action.
Velvick, who has 197 previous convictions including one for an offence of manslaughter, had denied possessing the Class Acontrolled drug with intent to supply it to others in Newbury on April 24, 2019.
But last month a jury unanimously convicted him of the offence after deliberating for just over an hour following a two-day trial.
Velvick, of Howard Court, Newbury, had been spotted acting
suspiciously and fled when a police officer tried to search him.
The officer was forced to deploy his incapacitant spray, Captor, and to handcuff the 49year-old as he struggled to free himself.
William Eaglestone, defending Velvick at the sentencing hearing at Reading Crown Court on Friday, said: “We accept that this is street dealing and Mr Velvick knows better than anyone how serious the harm caused by heroin on the streets can be.
“But this was a single incident that afternoon in 2019. There’s no evidence of any further street dealing.”
He acknowledged
that
his client was still using heroin, despite being prescribed the substitute drug, methadone, but added: “His main concern is going back to prison and losing everything he has gained over the last two years since this offence.
“There does appear to have been a shift in his behaviour.”
Judge Bate-Williams told Velvick: “You have what I can only describe as an appalling record.
“You have a methadone script but you’re still using [heroin] on top, a couple of times each week.
“You are said to pose a medium risk of serious harm to the public, which is worrying.”
Nevertheless, he added, he was prepared to accept the offence was a “one-off, isolated incident”.
The judge said he believed the terms of any suspended prison sentence would be “setting you up to fail” and said that, instead, he would be taking “an exceptional course of action”.
Velvick was made subject to a two-year community order.
In addition, he was made subject to a three-month daily curfew between 6pm and 6am, which will be monitored by an electronic tag.
Finally, Velvick was ordered to complete up to 20 days of rehablitation requirement activities.