A dog breeder who was found with stashes of cannabis and big piles of cash claimed that the thousands of pounds of money that the police found came from selling puppies for £2,000 each.
Father-of-three Benjamin Spencer seemed to have been making trips to Liverpool to buy 1kg batches of cannabis before “selling it on” wholesale and “taking a cut” from that. He was found with cannabis worth £36,000 and a total of £6,485 cash, Hull Crown Court heard.
Spencer, 30, of Beckington Close, off Frome Road, Longhill, Hull, admitted two offences of possessing cannabis with intent to supply and two offences of possessing cash as criminal property on October 25.
Michele Stuart-Lofthouse, prosecuting, said that police on the A63 were alerted to a BMW car that was being driven above the speed limit. It was stopped on the eastbound road at Hessle. Spencer was driving, his girlfriend was in the passenger seat and a two-year-old boy was in the back.
The car was searched and a vacuum-sealed bag of cannabis, weighing about 1kg, was in the boot. An envelope inside a bag in the passenger footwell contained £3,000 cash. Spencer and the woman gave different accounts of where they had been that day.
His home was searched and a small amount of cannabis was found in the kitchen. In a garage storage area was 4 to 5kg of cannabis in vacuum-sealed bags. There were also scales and dealer bags. In a bedroom cabinet was £3,435 cash. A knuckleduster was found.
The total estimated street value of the drugs was £36,000 and the total cash found was £6,485. An outbuilding had been separated into two rooms, with a door dividing them. There was plastic sheeting and electric sockets. It seemed that the area was going to be used for cannabis growing.
“He had an expectation of substantial financial advantage,” said Miss Stuart-Lofthouse. During police interview, Spencer gave mainly no comment answers.
He claimed that a dog of his had a litter of puppies 10 weeks earlier and that he had been selling the puppies for £2,000 each. He claimed that the money was all in £20 notes and that it would have been put in a bag.
When asked why he did not pay the money into a bank, he replied: “It’s not wrong to have cash on you.”
He claimed that he could obtain details of who the puppies had been sold to and that he had used a Pets4 Homes website. He denied being a drugs runner.
Spencer had convictions for nine previous offences between 2012 and 2022, including possessing cannabis with intent to supply in January 2019.
David Godfrey, mitigating, said that Spencer, a trained painter and decorator, was supplied with 1kg quantities of cannabis and he sold them on wholesale, making a profit. The court heard that he apparently went over to Liverpool in his car to get the cannabis hauls.
“He has been heavily involved in the using of cannabis,” said Mr Godfrey. “He has a recent conviction for possessing it. He knows people who use and grow it and he is deeply entrenched in that.
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“His role was effectively to move the drugs on. He was given the drugs at a particular price. There was a degree of profit. His use of cannabis is a key trigger in all of this.”
It was likely that growing cannabis himself was something that would have developed. Spencer had earlier spent 12 days in custody before being allowed bail and put on a curfew. “He is petrified of going to prison,” said Mr Godfrey. “This is going to be a crossroads sentence for him.”
At an earlier hearing, Mr Godfrey said of the cannabis: “He was selling it in kilo quantities. He was being given it by another. He was selling it on. He was taking a cut from that.
“He is a dog breeder. That’s his primary occupation. There is evidence of lawful activity in relation to a business in the breeding of puppies and the sale of the same.”
Spencer was jailed for two years and three months.