A COCAINE ‘stasher’ was caught with a kilogramme of the Class A drug after he agreed to test its purity to pay off an old drugs debt.
James Brayshaw had only had the drugs for 10 minutes when police raided his Sheffield home.
He was jailed for four years at Sheffield Crown Court after he admitted possessing cocaine with intent to supply.
The court heard Brayshaw owed money to drug dealers after he was caught with a kilogram of heroin and jailed for seven years in 2006.
On his release, the dealers searched for him and broke his ankle to warn him he’d have to pay off the debt.
Laura Marshall, defending, said Brayshaw, aged 31, agreed to stash the cocaine at his home on Maple Grove, Handsworth, and test its purity – to pay off part of the debt – before it was collected.
But on the day of the handover on September 16 last year, police raided his home and saw him run from the house and throw a package into a next door garden.
Officers stopped a car leaving the scene and arrested Stephen Makin, aged 54.
Brian Outhwaite, prosecuting, said Makin had been to the address to collect £40,000 but denied any involvement in the supply of the cocaine and was only there to pick up the money.
Makin, of Macclesfield, pleaded guilty to possessing criminal property and was jailed for nine months.
Miss Marshall said “Mr Brayshaw was not involved in dealing, but was a stasher of these drugs.”
Recorder Michael Hubbard QC told him“Your role was significant in a chain and those involved were supplying large quantities of cocaine on to the streets.
Comments