A Bangor man who allowed his drug supplier to stash heroin and cash in his van has been jailed for two and a half years.
Anthony Jason Riley, 43, was told by a judge that he had been motivated by financial or other advantage to allow his supplier to keep money and drugs in his vehicle.
Mr Recorder Paul Thomas QC, sitting at Mold Crown Court on Friday afternoon, said he took into account the delay in the case which dated back to June 2014.
Police raided his home in Troed y Castell, Bangor, and found ignition keys which fitted a van parked outside the premises, he said.
The van was searched and inside were two bags of heroin, just over 49 grammes, which had a 32 per cent purity.
It was valued on the streets at more than £2,250, and £855 in cash was also seized.
Riley first told the police it was his, and indicated that he would take the blame for it.
However, in the run up to his trial, he suggested that it was not his at all, and even suggested that the police had tried to frame him, the judge said.
On the day of his trial, he pleaded guilty on the basis that the heroin was not his but that he had allowed his vehicle to be used as a stash by his own supplier.
“It is an important feature that suppliers of class A drugs have to have a safe haven in which to store their drugs,” said the judge.
“While you were not involved in the supply of heroin to others, you were playing an important role on behalf of the retailer of that awful substance by allowing him to use your van as a safe haven for drugs and money.”
Riley’s case was aggravated by his previous convictions.
The judge said that he took into account the delay in the case, his guilty plea and basis of plea, his health problems and personal circumstances.
He said the sentence would be reduced from a starting point of three years.
Prosecuting barrister Jonathan Austin said the defendant’s basis of plea, that he was a custodian of the heroin for another, had been accepted at an earlier occasion.
Police found the keys at his home, simply pressed a button on the key and the lights came on the van outside, and the drugs and cash were discovered inside.
Peter Moss, defending, said his client’s trial had been adjourned a number of times and there had been significant delays.
While he had allowed someone to use the van outside, he had not known the extent of what was going on, he said.
He played no part in any dealing himself, and there was no DNA to link him with the drugs.
The position was that he got some free drugs for allowing his vehicle to be used that way.
“This is a matter of some considerable antiquity,” said Mr Moss.
see-http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/bangor-man-jailed-letting-drug-11822824
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