Peaky Blinders extra was cannabis dealer
A BIT-PART actor who appeared in BBC crime dramas Peaky Blinders and Ripper Street led a double life as a drug dealer.
Gideon Goldstraw, 48, was arrested after police spotted him using his mobile phone at the wheel of his VW Golf and discovered he was driving under the influence of cannabis.
The TV extra - who also played a Manchester United fan opposite Hollywood star Brian Cox in the 2011 Sir Matt Busby biopic Theatre of Dreams - had drug paraphernalia in his vehicle including 15 snap bags, scales and a debtors book.
Up to £1,200 worth of cannabis was seized from the car and 2,000 text messages - many of which were linked to drug dealing - were found on his mobile phone.
Goldstraw, of Chorlton, admitted drug dealing but claimed he had peddled the drug to friends as a “herbal remedy’’ for medical ailments. He said he sold cannabis cookies, cakes and sweets.
At Manchester Crown Court he admitted possessing cannabis with intent to supply and drug driving but was given eight months jail suspended for two years and was ordered to complete 200 hours unpaid work.
The married actor and musician has worked in Manchester as a stand-up comedian.
He has also played a zombie in a TV short and worked as an MC in a club in Ibiza.
It’s understood he was an extra in Season Three of Peaky Blinders, which is filmed in Manchester and Macclesfield, Cheshire.
He was stopped at 2pm on June 27 last year after he was seen using his mobile while driving on the outskirts of Manchester.
Prosecuting, Stella Massey said: “He was pulled over and gave his name and admitted using his phone whilst driving.
“The police officer could smell cannabis and he said he had used it the night before.
“A roadside screening showed he was positive for cannabis.
“The police officer searched the car and found several snap bags of cannabis, scales, pens, £300 in cash and a debtors book. When interviewed he admitted possession with intent to supply.
“He said he used cannabis on a daily basis and he initially started buying it for his father who was suffering from Parkinson’s disease and subsequently died in 2016 and the cannabis seemed to help that condition, but his father’s friends found out about it and started asking him for cannabis for their ailments.”
Goldstraw was ordered to pay £200 court costs and was disqualified from driving for 12 months. In mitigation lawyer Adrian Palmer said: “The cannabis was used to treat his father and that is how the defendant started taking it.”
Sentencing, Judge Anthony Cross QC told him: “You have a home and you are in employment and in these circumstances I don’t see why you should add to the already large prison population.”