DRUG dealers were under orders from the main dealer who has since died when a Malvern flat was raided by police.
Jodie Green, who had been in a relationship with the dealer who died, admitted being concerned in the supply of cocaine and heroin in what the prosecutor described as a 'cottage industry' in Malvern. Green - now drug free - broke down in tears when she realised she would not be going to prison during a hearing at court this week.
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FREE: Jodie Green.
Her co-defendant, Paul Hines, admitted being concerned in the supply of cocaine when he appeared at Worcester Crown Court together with Green on Monday.
By her guilty plea Green, 29, of Orchard Court, Malvern, was in breach of a relevant 24 month prison sentence suspended for 24 months for the supply of heroin.
She pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of both drugs between the end of January, 2019 and February 22, 2019, breaching that earlier suspended sentence imposed on April 28, 2017.
As well as the supply offence, Hines, 52, of Meadowsweet Court, Malvern also admitted possession of a class C drug for his own personal use.
FREE: Paul Hines
Stefan Kolodynski, prosecuting, said a warrant was executed at Meadowsweet Court in Malvern on March 15, 2019 - a flat within a block of flats managed by Fortis housing association.
He said: "Officers gained entry at 9.32am. They forced entry with a door enforcer to prevent any potential disposal of evidence.
"No appreciable amount of drugs were technically found but police seized a number of phones and paraphernalia indicating a small cottage industry which supplied controlled drugs."
In total officers found five sets of electric scales and a dealing list with nine names on it and figures indicating how much the users owed - £314. Seven mobile phones were seized. Four could not be examined but messages in the 'drug dealing vernacular' were found on the other phones. An iPhone was seized from Hines.
SENTENCE: Worcester Crown Court
"He refused to provide the PIN number for that" said Mr Kolodynski. Officers visited him again on March 20, 2019, again asking him for the PIN.
"Again he refused" said the prosecutor. In interview Hines said he was not the only person who used that iPhone and that others would also use his car 'without permission'.
Eleven days later on March 31, 2019 Hines was pulled over in his Citroen C2 in Somers Park Avenue, Malvern. Officers found what the defendant described as a 'legal high' in a grip-sealed bag in the glove compartment. It was later identified as a class C drug. Meanwhile, Green's phone showed 'unequivocal messages suggesting supply' including details of the address where the drugs could be bought.
The drugs were being sold by Mel Kitchen, a former partner of Green who has since died. The court heard that Mr Kitchen died on February 21, 2019.
Belinda Ariss, for Green, said her client had a lesser role in the enterprise. "She was acting almost as a secretary assistant to the dealer who has subsequently died. She was in a relationship with Melvin Kitchen who was the dealer" said Mrs Ariss.
Green was supported at court by her current partner, Peter Griffiths, 44, of Bluebell Close, Malvern, who was sentenced for possession of heroin in relation to the same case on July 3 last year.
The two now have a child together, the court heard.
Mrs Ariss said Green had been 'a heroin addict at the time and some time cocaine user' but was now returning negative drug samples.
Jason Patel, defending Hines, said he would take orders on behalf of the dealer after the defendant relapsed into drug use. "It's accepted that the messages on that phone are not all his" said Mr Patel.
Recorder Kevin Hegarty QC, sentencing, said: "The offending on this indictment was at the behest of a man who is now deceased."
He sentenced Green to 23 months in prison suspended for two years. This will include 100 hours of unpaid work and 25 rehabilitation activity requirement days. He sentenced Hines to two years in prison suspended for two years and ordered him to complete 20 rehabilitation activity requirement says.
He further ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the drugs.
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