A young Hull man got involved in the “scourge and damage” of cocaine dealing after menacing and frightening threats were made to harm him and his family over a hard-to-pay £400 debt.
Thomas Gregory “ruined” his life through being caught selling Class A drugs and it was a “tragedy” that he had thrown away the progress that he had been making since being arrested by the police, Hull Crown Court heard.
Gregory, 24, of west Hull, admitted possessing cocaine with intent to supply, possessing a knuckleduster as an offensive weapon and possessing cannabis on June 14 last year.
Oliver Shipley, prosecuting, said that police on patrol at about 3.20pm saw Gregory on a bicycle outside a house at the junction in north Hull. He met with the occupant of the house and there was an exchange. Gregory cycled away.
“Officers had reason to believe that a drug deal had taken place,” said Mr Shipley. Gregory’s description was given to other police and he was put under surveillance. He went to another house and, after he had been inside, he was arrested.
Gregory had two phones on him, one of them given to him by other dealers, a knuckleduster and £63.65 cash. A set of digital scales and a small packet of cannabis were found inside the house. Cocaine weighing 4.8g, valued at £560, was found.
Gregory later told police that he had a £400 drug debt at the time but no money to pay for it. Threats had been made to harm him and his family if it was not paid but he had been told that he could pay it off by selling drugs for others.
Gregory had convictions for possessing cocaine and cannabis in March 2022 and assault and possessing cannabis in September 2022.
Ben Hammersley, mitigating, said that Gregory had some awareness of the scale of the operation but he was acting under direction and only a small amount of drugs was seized. He had no previous convictions for drug dealing.
“He has had a drug issue for a long time,” said Mr Hammersley. “He accepts that. It’s unfortunate that this has led him to where he is now. He has not touched a drug since. He doesn’t drink. He has turned his life around. He fully accepts that he needs to be punished.”
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Deputy circuit judge Graham Robinson told Gregory: “You owed £400 to these drug dealers. It must have been obvious to you that there was a significant scale of operation. You clearly did have some idea.
“Class A drug dealers at street level go to prison. It’s just so serious that, even if the appropriate sentence was around two years and could be suspended, which in this case it’s not, appropriate punishment can only be achieved by immediate custody.
“It’s a tragedy to see how Class A drugs ruin lives. It will ruin the lives of those to whom you supplied. Now it’s ruined your life because you are going to prison. It’s yet another example of the scourge and damage that Class A drugs use causes, not just in this community but in the whole country.”
Gregory, who had been on bail, was jailed for two-and-a-half years. The £63.65 cash seized by the police will be used towards court costs.