"I did it for my kids after my benefits were halved," e-bike riding drug dealer tells cops
An e-bike riding drug dealer caught red-handed told police officers he turned to the illegal trade in a bid to provide for his children, after his “benefits were cut in half.”
Patrolling police officers suspected they had stumbled upon a drug deal, after they observed Stefan Simms attempting to surreptitiously pass an item into the hands of another male.
The officers, who had been put to work in the Mexborough area as part of a week of action aimed at tackling anti-social behaviour, went over to speak to Simms who was on an e-bike.
“He attempted to get away, but it was a half-hearted effort,” Beverley Tait, prosecuting, told a Sheffield Crown Court hearing held on March 12, 2026.
She continued: “On arrest, he said: ‘I did it for my kids to get a bit extra money for them, my benefits were cut in half’.”
Simms, of West Road, Doncaster, also repeated the same account when he was interviewed.
He also claimed he had built up a drug debt from smoking cocaine and cannabis, the court heard.
During a search conducted by officers, Simms was found to be in possession of 11 bags of cocaine worth approximately £200, with an estimated purity of 79 per cent.
Officers also recovered £100 in cash, and a mobile phone.
Simms, aged 36, admitted to using the e-bike as transport for dealing drugs, and said he carried that amount of cash in case he got hungry whilst out.
He pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to supply cocaine at an earlier hearing.
Passing sentence, Judge David Dixon told Simms that had he been sentencing him three or four years ago, “pre-Covid,” he most likely would have sent him straight to prison.
However, he said the current sentencing guidance, combined with Simms’ mitigating factors which include his lack of previous convictions and the likely impact on his friends and family, meant he was able to take a different course of action.
“I’ve seen the references in your pre-sentence report, and with your age feeding into this, there’s every reason to believe that you can be rehabilitated, live an ordinary life and look after your family,” said Judge Dixon.
He sentenced Simms to 18 months’ custody, suspended for two years, and ordered him to complete 180 hours of unpaid work, along with a 20-day rehabilitation activity requirement.
Judge Dixon warned Simms, however, that he had reserved any and all breaches of the suspended sentence order to himself, and said he would have no hesitation in sending him straight to prison if he was brought before him again.
“I’m giving you a golden chance not to go to custody. I require you not to complete any further offences, I require you to take the help you’re being given.”
“If you breach it, and there’s an unacceptable reason for you breaching it, you will go to prison,” he said.