Drug-dealer caught with a stun gun

POLICE found a stun gun at the Derby home of a drug dealer when they searched it after arresting him.

The weapon, which had “ultra-high voltage” on it, was discovered when officers went to an Alvaston address where Ajai Lawrence was living. Derby Crown Court heard £2,000 in cash and amounts of cannabis were also found at the Boulton Lane property.

Now the 23-year-old has been handed a 20-month jail term, suspended for two years, having admitted a string of offences.

Judge Shaun Smith QC said: “You were quite a trusted person in this [drugs] operation where no doubt there were people above you. You are only 23 and I don’t think for one minute you set this up on your own. However, you were found with two mobile phones, on one of which were eight customers and seven on the other.

“I have heard how the past five weeks you have now spent in custody has been a bad experience for you. Twenty months is going to be even worse if you reoffend again in the next two years.

“I am prepared to let you back into the community to see if you can behave yourself. For the next two years you are going to have that 20-month threat of imprisonment hanging over you.”

Joey Kwong, prosecuting, said police arrested Lawrence over an unrelated incident in Baxter Square, Sunny Hill, on November 13. He said two mobile phones were seized from him. Messages on them and further Facebook messages that were viewed showed he was offering to sell cannabis to 15 different people.

Mr Kwong said: “Messages also refer to him buying cannabis on credit and make it clear that he is acting as a dealer. Officers then went to an address in Boulton Lane on which the defendant’s name was on the tenancy document. A search revealed a storage cupboard on top of a door frame in which exactly £2,000 in cash was found.

“There were also deals of cannabis in the living room and a stun gun which had a flat battery. On that stun gun were the words ‘ultra-high voltage’ showing it was capable of discharging 8,000 volts.”

Lawrence, now of Bembridge Drive, Alvaston, admitted possessing the stun gun, offering to supply a class B drug and possessing criminal property (the £2,000 in cash). As well as the suspended jail term, Judge Smith told him to do out 300 hours unpaid work.

Dan Church, mitigating, said his client had been smoking cannabis since the age of 13. He said: “He has been in custody for the past five weeks and it is not an experience he has enjoyed.”