Dealer who had drug price lists on his phone is locked up

Marley Witter, 24, was the target of a police raid on a property on Tennyson Avenue in Pontefract on May 26, 2019 following a tip off.

He was arrested at the property and a search uncovered a bag of cannabis and weighing scales from the garden shed, a cannabis plant in a caravan in the garden and five pink tablets which turned out to be ecstasy, prosecutor Jade Edwards told Leeds Crown Court this week.

They also recovered knives and a small axe.

However, they also found a mobile phone containing drug-related text and Facebook messages, including the types of drugs he had for sale, the prices, along with evidence of people contacting him to inquire about drugs.

During questioning, Witter admitted the cannabis was for his own personal use, as were the ecstasy pills, but gave no comments when quizzed about the phone activity.

Witter, who has no previous convictions, admitted to three counts of offering to supply LSD and two counts of offering to sell MDMA, which are both Class A drugs.

He also admitted offering to supply cannabis, a Class B drug, possession of MDMA with an intent to supply and possession of cannabis.

Mitigating, Sean Fritchley said that Witter, now of Skinner Lane, Pontefract, had endured a difficult childhood but was now managing to "turn his life around completely".

He added: "He is in full-time work and friends and family speak of a different person from what we perceive to be an everyday drug dealer.

"This was the usual tale of someone starting to take cannabis, which increased from there and was drawn into this lifestyle by supplying drugs to others to fund his own habit."

He said Witter now had own flat, and that the police raid had been a "wake-up call".

The Recorder of Leeds, Judge Guy Kearl QC, handed him two years and eight months' jail.