Pier Jam drug dealer is reprieved by judge

Mohammed Amin, 19, was caught by police sniffer dogs when he went to the festival at North Pier to “make some easy money”, Preston Crown Court heard.

On September 29 a trained drugs dog picked Amin out of the crowd.

He was carrying 41 MDMA tablets and a small amount of Ketamine, along with £275 cash.

Amin admitted he needed money to move house and had taken the drugs to the festival to make some cash.

He pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply.

Since his arrest, Amin had taken part in drug mentoring to warn youngsters about the dangers of taking illegal drugs.

He has also been offered work as a mechanic and carried out charity fund-raising activities.

But Judge Robert Altham, sentencing, said: “There is a particular danger of selling drugs at music festivals which are frequented by young, often impressionable, people.”

He added: “You chose for no better reason to make what you describe as easy money to take 41 ecstasy tablets into a music event at Blackpool.

“It is right to say when you were charged, although you were caught with them on your person, you admitted to the police officers what you had done and pleaded guilty at the first opportunity.

“You do have to appreciate that what it is you have done and why these sorts of offences are punished as severely as they are by the courts.

“Everybody knows and you will have known that the possession and sale of Class A drugs leads to tremendous social problems and can result in death. It has been well publicised over the years that the taking of ecstasy can result in people dying. It is an act which shows a person who has no moral compass or has completely lost his moral compass to sell items with potentially lethal consequences just to make money.

“It is very difficult to understand why it is that you, with the sort of family support you have should have lost his moral compass in that way.

“The selling of Class A drugs within a music festival is particularly serious because the clientele you are seeking to engage in that potentially lethal trade will be, by and large, young and potentially impressionable people who will be disinhibited by the circumstances they are in.

“It is completely disgraceful to seek to make money from them in that way.”

However, the judge said he accepted the testimonials to Amin’s good character and said there was no evidence of ongoing dealing.

In exceptional circumstances, he said he was able to suspend the sentence of two years for two years, and ordered Amin to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.

He also placed the defendant on a 12-week curfew to be electronically monitored at his home in Darnley Street, Manchester.