Bulwell teen wants to turn away from crime after being caught dealing hard drugs

Christopher Marriott was a passenger in a Renault which was stopped on Nuthall Road, Radford, on December 3, last year, at about 10.25am, Nottingham Crown Court heard

Brian Outhwaite, prosecuting, said cannabis was found in a plastic bag sticking out from the bonnet and Marriott, and the driver, Barraket Selassie, were both arrested.

Officers found Marriott was wearing two pairs of trousers between which was a bundle that contained 15 wraps of cocaine valued at £150, and 23 wraps of heroin worth £240.

A dealer list, £188 cash and bags and scales were discovered at his home.

Drug dealing text messages were found on Selassie’s phone, along with £2,121 in cash at his home.

Marriott, now aged 19, of Nine Acre Gardens, Bulwell, admitted possession of the class A drugs with intent to supply.

The court heard he has previous convictions for criminal damage and minor violence, but nothing for drugs, and was last in trouble in 2020.

Selassie, 22, of Beaconsfield Road, Nottingham, admitted offering to supply cannabis and possession of criminal property. He has relevant previous convictions and has been jailed for possessing and supplying cannabis.

David Watts, for Marriott, said: “He wants to face up with what he has done and put all this behind him. He was 18 at the time of the incident.

“He was clearly a troubled young man. He was passed from foster home to care home. He wants to move away from that part of his life and begin again.”

Sentencing, Judge Stuart Rafferty KC told Marriott: “Your life has been awful and that’s not your fault. But if you start tiptoeing into this sort of life you will find yourself up to your neck in it very shortly.

“I am satisfied the drugs were given to you and you were running them for someone else. And, as always, you were the person who was going to get caught.”

The judge handed him a 16-month custodial term, suspended for two years, with 35 rehabilitation days.

He told Selassie his was “a much more worrying case” and sentenced him to two years’ custody, suspended for two years, with 20 rehabilitation days.