A drug dealer told police "you have won and I have lost" after they caught him hiding crack cocaine under his privates. Joseph Mannion used his friend Andrew Sissons, "a willing companion", to store more illegal substances at his home, Derby Crown Court was told.
On the day they were both arrested, the pair were stopped in a car, searched and wraps of both cocaine and heroin were found. Further searches at their addresses in Ilkeston uncovered half a kilogram of cannabis and £6,000 of cocaine, Derbyshire Live reports.
Jailing the two men for a combined total of seven years, Recorder Jason Macadam said: "This was a well-run, organised and busy operation. Mr Mannion was running the deals ably assisted by Mr Sissons who was a driver and who stored the drugs at his address.
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"For you, Mr Mannion, this was a significant role for significant financial reward. And for the last seven or eight years whatever else you have been doing you have led the life of a professional criminal.
"Mr Sissons, I have read the text messages between you and your co-accused and I am quite satisfied your contribution was as a willing and able assistant to Mr Mannion."
Eunice Opare-Addo, prosecuting, said police stopped a Ford Focus being driven by Sissons and in which Mannion was a front seat passenger, in Ilkeston, on August 31, last year. She said the pair were arrested and taken to the town's police station where officers undertook a strip search.
Miss Opare-Addo said: "Wraps of crack cocaine and heroin were found hidden underneath Mr Mannion's privates who remarked to the police how 'they had won and he had lost' on that day. Both of the defendants' home addresses were searched and in a plastic tub at Mr Mannion's address was £2,225 in cash and more wraps.
"Class A drugs were found at Mr Sissons' flat, 45g of crack cocaine with a purity of 81%. Half a kilo of cannabis was found in several tubs and a sword was found on his bed."
Mannion, 27, of Keppel Court, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply class A drugs and being concerned in the supply of class A and B drugs. He has 11 previous convictions for 18 offences and at the time of this offending was on licence having been released part-way through a six-year prison term for aggravated burglary. .
Emma Coverley, mitigating, said: "He was addicted to the drugs he was supplying and became involved in supplying to users after falling into debt."
Sissons, 41, of Bath Street, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply class A drugs, being concerned in the supply of class A and B drugs and possession of an offensive weapon. He has one previous conviction from 2009 for production of cannabis and was jailed for 21 months.
Will Bennett, his barrister, said: "This defendant is simply a lonely individual who is perhaps easily manipulated. He is constantly in pain through collapsing discs in his back and in order to deal with the pain developed something of a cannabis habit which he was getting from assisting in this enterprise."
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