A WINDOW cleaner caught with £19,000 of methylone – MCAT – during a police raid on his South Yorkshire home has been locked up for 20 months.
Martin Barron, aged 41, was jailed at Sheffield Crown Court after he admitted possessing the Class B drug, producing cannabis and extracting electricity.
Carl Fitch, prosecuting, said when officers raided Barron’s home in Lundwood Lane, Lundwood, Barnsley, they found a plastic tub of methylone – a Class B drug from the same family of drugs as mephedrone – and also known as MCAT.
Mr Fitch said: “He fully admitted that’s what it was and said it was his.
“In a shed they found 16 cannabis plants growing and the usual hydroponics system of heat, light and water.
“The potential yield from the cannabis was in the region of 58g – the Crown accepts it was for his own personal use.”
Mr Fitch said the search continued and officers found an ounce of methylone and £7,700 in cash in a safe.
The methylone had an estimated street value of £19,700.
The court heard Barron had previous convictions, but none were drugs related.
At the time of the raid he was the subject of a suspended jail term imposed after he broke a man’s jaw in a fight.
Chris Aspinall, mitigating, said Barron was storing the methylone for someone else and had been given a small amount of the drug for personal use in return.
He said he started using the drug when it was still legal.
Mr Aspinall said Barron had been a hard-working window cleaner for a number of years and was a single parent with a young son.
He said Barron had paid the bill for the electricity illegally extracted in full.
Judge Roger Keen said: “You had set up a cannabis growing room. It is accepted that was all for your own use, but it’s aggravated because you attacked the electricity supply.
“More significantly, you were looking after MCAT for a retail dealer, worth £19,000, and for that you were to receive a small amount of that drug.
“Through all of this, you were subject of a suspended sentence. I see no injustice in bringing into effect that sentence, but I will reduce its length to six months.”
Barron was given a year in jail for the MCAT offence, two months consecutive for producing cannabis and two months concurrent for extracting electricity.
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