Footballer and model turned to drug dealing after work…

Footballer and model turned to drug dealing after work 'dried up' during pandemic

A model and almost-professional footballer turned to dealing drugs after the Covid-19 pandemic hit.

Marcus Adigun, 29, was spotted by police next to a car behaving "erratically" on May 5, 2021, Leeds Crown Court heard on Thursday. Officers searched the car and inside discovered two packages of white rock, which went on to be tested and confirmed to be cocaine.

Prosecutor Edward Steele said items which would enable someone to take nitrous oxide were also discovered and it was found Adigun was not the designated driver of the car.

Mr Steele said: "A bag of white rock and £458 was seized from him at the police station as well as two iPhones. The police ran downloads and there were various messages speaking to his drug dealing and a house search was conducted."

Officers were shown into Adigun's bedroom by his father and found 35g of brown rock, a diesel pouch with white rock, two pots of cannabis, items including a scale, £2,400 in cash and an iPhone. "He was interviewed and replied 'no comment,'" Mr Steele added.

The court heard that Adigun, of Scotforth Close in Manchester, was summonsed to Leeds Magistrates' Court by postal requisition in January this year. He appeared in April, after failing to in March, and later pleaded guilty to two counts of possession with intent to supply cocaine, possession with intent to supply ketamine, possession with intent to supply cannabis and offering to supply a psychoactive substance.

Adigun was spotted by police in Leeds (Instagram)

Mitigating, Damian Zalazowski told the court Adigun had been signed to a professional football club, but was not able to realise this dream as he was injured and turned to boxing while at university, becoming a university champion. The barrister said: "This is someone who is able to work hard academically and push himself physically."

It was said Adigun was then on track to become a personal trainer, having only having to complete the practical part of his level three exam and was a model and an actor. Mr Zalazowski said: "In that period [he was working to become a personal trainer] he was able to obtain work as a model and actor and what makes it particularly impressive is that he has found employment in areas many young people will have seen as the holy grail and fame and fortune...

He is now behind bars (West Yorkshire Police)

"When the pandemic bit, work dried up and he found himself in financial difficulties and made what is, he accepts, a poor decision - quite an out of character decision to move into this area to supply drugs which is something he has accepted that he at times as used and he saw this as an option to make money to get through a difficult period."

Mr Zalazowski said Adigun was dealing to a "relatively small social groups" and people who knew him, or had heard through word of mouth.

Recorder Moran jailed Adigun for 28 months.

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