A man who was jailed for trying to smuggle around £1,500 of MDMA into Creamfields for him and his friends, cried out to his pregnant partner as he was led to the cells.
Reiss White, 31, appeared in the dock in a blue suit and lowered his head downwards for much of the hearing, but as he picked up his bags to head down to the cells, he said:' “I’m sorry Jordan” to his pregnant partner in the public gallery as his voice succumbed to emotion.
White, of Wensleydale, Tamworth was searched as he made his way through the northern entry to the festival site in Daresbury at around 6pm on Saturday, August 28, 2021. Mark Phillips, prosecuting at Chester Crown Court on Thursday, said officers from Cheshire Police searched White and found he was carrying a phone, a two-day campaign ticket and two packages of the Class A drug MDMA.
Mr Phillips said the first package contained 25.9 grams of powder MDMA worth from £400-£1,480, and the second had 50 pills worth about £500. White - who was at the festival in a personal capacity but is also the managing director of Stealth Connections music tour company - later attended a voluntary interview where he said he bought the drugs for £200 before entering and his initial intention was “to overdose but he thought better of it”.
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He refused to divulge his phone pin number.
The businessman pleaded guilty on May 10 to one count of possession with intent to supply a Class A drug, namely MDMA, but prosecutors rejected his basis and the case was listed for a Newton hearing to decide his claims.
Before that took place, he entered an amended basis and he again pleaded guilty, this time accepted by the Crown, on September 5.
Mr Phillips said the basis was White was an “occasional user of MDMA” and “bought the MDMA for the benefit of himself and his friends. It was arranged between those parties the defendant went into the festival with the drugs to reduce the risk of all the group being caught with the drugs.
“The defendant was intending to supply to those he knew. He wasn’t managing a drugs operation or onward supply. The defendant didn’t involve anybody else and didn’t have any influence on those he obtained the drugs from. He accepts he may have made some financial gain from the supply”.
White had one previous conviction for two counts of possession with intent to supply the Class B drug cannabis, for which he received a suspended sentence in 2014.
Recorder Eric Lamb had read an “extensive” pre-sentence report and character references including from White’s partner, a music act he had worked with, and a letter from White himself - “setting out the changes that there have been in his life and his attitude now to his offending”
There were also references from a tutorial service and an infant bereavement charity he had supported, and a supporter who praised his “expertise in the management of tours” and a music company who commented on his work providing “logistics”.
Arron Payne, defending, pleaded mitigation for White’s guilty plea, and said his client was only taking the drugs in to share with friends and “was the one who nominated himself” to carry those drugs into the festival to avoid detection for the others to allow the others to go through risk-free”, and was someone who “works tirelessly and always puts others before himself”.
He added that in the time leading up to Creamfields, White had suffered the loss of three "close friends" who took their own lives in three months, shortly before “the country was plunged into a national lockdown as a result of Covid-19”, and he entered into therapy.
Mr Payne said: “It’s against that backdrop and his love for music, which you’ve picked up, that he decided to go to Creamfields.”
He said White wanted a “blowout after what had been a very difficult time for him”.
The case, he said, was “close to a case of joint purchase and joint consumption - it’s not the typical case of supplying drugs when one doesn’t know the people one is supplying the drugs to”.
Mr Payne added that White’s partner was pregnant with his child due in March next year and had lost her father recently.
He said White was the managing director of Stealth Communications music tour company, whose work had supported events featuring acts such as “Ed Sheeran, Stormzy, Aitch and Jaykae” - the latter of whom had provided a character reference - one of more than 25 submitted in support of White.
The defence barrister said White had been “drug free since arrest” and the Creamfields bust was an “isolated incident”.
He said: “This offence represents a foolish mistake. It scared him off drugs completely.”
White had also raised more than £13,000 for charity, he said.
Recorder Lamb said the aggravating features - notably the previous conviction for supplying drugs - and mitigation such as his “glowing references” balanced each other out, leaving White with a starting point of three years before 25% discount for his guilty plea.
He sentenced White to 27 months in prison.
Recorder Lamb said bringing drugs into Creamfields could lead to the “exposure of third parties to risk of serious harm”, adding a detective constable had said the prospect of financial gain increased inside the festival because drugs were more expensive due to the risk associated with bypassing security.
Referring to the DC’s community impact statement, Recorder Lamb said: “It’s likely that there would have been exposure of third parties to risk of serious harm because of the location of the drug-related activity in the festival.
“And you refused to give the pin number for the phone that was seized from you, which at the time appears to have been an attempt to conceal evidence.
“In fact you gave an account with the police which is not consistent with the basis of plea, which you’ve now advanced.
“However, I note there’s no issue taken by the prosecution on your basis of plea and so that ultimately doesn’t amount to an attempt to conceal evidence.
“But the significant aggravating feature in my judgement is the evidence of the community impact.”
The judge agreed to make a forfeiture and destruction order for the drugs and phone.
A Cheshire Police spokesman said the force could not provide a custody picture of White as he was never arrested and was instead ejected from the festival and asked to attend a voluntary interview the following month, with a postal requisition to court issued for March 28, 2022 when he was to be formally charged.
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