Drug supplier had axe in car and crime cash
ARUNCORN cannabis supplier caught with an axe in his car for ‘enforcement’ purposes has been sent down for two years and five months.
Police stopped Scott Paul Jameson, 30, of Wicksten Drive, in his BMW after he had been spotted on Grangemoor on May 18 amid reports that someone had been seen with a machete.
A search of the car revealed a short-handled axe in the passenger-side footwell, that was ‘immediately accessible’ to Jameson and believed to be an ‘enforcement tool’, prosecutor Chris Hopkins told Chester Crown Court on Friday.
They also found a dealer’s list, an Aquaris smartphone with a reputation for high-level encryption and known to be used by organised criminals, a ‘graft phone’, £1,820 in cash which Jameson said was from a motorbike sale, and a shop receipt for a £1,000 wire transfer to a man in Spain who had been arrested for moneylaundering offences.
Inside Jameson’s home on Wicksten Drive, officers found a second dealer’s list, £4,972.52 in cash and a tenancy agreement in Jameson’s name for an address on Arthur Street, Runcorn.
At the Arthur Street property they found a large holdall containing four one-kilo packs of cannabis with an estimated street value of £47,000.
Mr Hopkins said some of the names on the dealer’s list in the car were of convicted drug offenders and the corresponding figures ranged from £1,000 to £20,000, which he described as ‘ substantial quantities’.
Jameson had four previous convictions for nine offences including for possession of a knife.
He initially admitted possessing cannabis with intent to supply and pleaded not guilty to having a bladed article in relation to the axe and possessing criminal cash, but later changed those please to guilty on the day of trial.
Anthony O’Donohoe, defending, said Jameson had been drawn into drug supply in an attempt to support his sister financially after her partner took his own life.
Jameson had suffered depression due to the death, Mr O’Donohoe said, but his status as a qualified mechanical engineer made him a ‘trusted’ figure to criminals and his ‘very foolish’ decision led to being entrusted to act as a cannabis and cash courier.
Mr O’Donohoe said there was ‘very little evidence’ of an expectation of high financial gain and that references ‘spoke highly of him as a brother, colleague and employee’.
His Honour Judge Patrick Thompson sentenced Jameson to two years in prison for supplying cannabis, with a concurrent sentence for possessing criminal cash, plus five months consecutive for having an axe.
Sending him down, he said: “I accept that you had tragedy in your family and your sister’s partner passed away, it provided some financial strain on your family and you, but what you did I’m afraid is to get yourself involved with what appears to be ● very serious drug dealers.
“It may be that you justified it by saying it’s Class B, but anyone who spends time in the courts sees the impact that drugs have on lives.
“Lives are blighted by addiction to this drug.
“The lists showed that large quantities of drugs were being exchanged and large quantities of money were owed and exchanged.
“The evidence suggests your role was a highlytrusted one, trusted with the money, trusted with the large amounts of drugs and it appears you had an enforcement role and that was the reason for the presence of the axe in your vehicle.”
A Proceeds Of Crime Act case will take place later this year to determine how much cash to seize from Jameson.