A teenage drug dealer who narrowly avoided custody after being part of a £1.5m county lines gang later got himself into "more bother" when he ran up a £1,000 debt that came back to haunt him.
Heroin and crack cocaine user Asher Buckingham claimed that he was threatened with violence over repaying the drug debt and he feared that he had no option but to get involved again in cannabis dealing so that he could hand over cash, Hull Crown Court heard.
Buckingham, 19, of Hull, admitted possessing cannabis with intent to supply on June 24. Harry Bradford, prosecuting, said that plainclothes police saw Buckingham riding an e-scooter along beverley -road>Beverley Road, Hull, at 1.45pm. He turned right into Grove Street, where a male was loitering half way down the road.
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The other male spotted Buckingham on the e-scooter and walked into an alleyway, where they met up. Police stopped Buckingham and searched him. He had a bag of cannabis, which he claimed was for his own use.
Police went to Buckingham's last known address at the time, the Terry Street hostel, and searched his room. They found a bag of green herbal cannabis, digital scales and a stash of cash. He was arrested but during police interview he made no comment to all questions.
Buckingham had convictions for nine previous offences, five of them for drugs between last year and this year.
In April this year, he was sentenced for conspiracy to supply heroin and crack cocaine and possessing cannabis with intent to supply. He was originally given a youth rehabilitation order but that was later changed to a community order.
Those offences involved his part in a major county lines gang set up in Bradford to sell heroin and cocaine in Hull and Goole. Police had discovered a "stash house" containing drugs, scales and a gun in Newland Grove, Hull.
Hundreds of text messages from several mobile phones were analysed and police estimated that the scale of the county lines drugs network was more than £1.5m. The Newland Grove house was being used to store drugs transported from Bradford.
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Buckingham told the latest hearing that he had a drug debt of about £1,000 at the time that he became involved in the most recent offence, which was committed after he was originally spared custody following the county lines case.
"I was threatened," he claimed. Drugs were seized from him and he was told that he needed to work to pay off the debt. He got into "more bother" because he lost another lot of drugs. He admitted that he was a drug user and that was how he got into debt in the first place.
Buckingham claimed that, on a previous occasion, he tried to go to the police but "they screwed me up" and he was scared that something like that might happen again.
"They just kept using threats," he claimed. "They would send people and I would give them the cash." He was taking heroin and crack cocaine at the time.
Judge Mark Bury told him: "You need to give that up." Buckingham replied: "I will – 100 per cent." He claimed that he had been "doing okay" while in custody on remand but he added: "I had a threat while in custody. I got threatened and had to move wing."
Buckingham claimed that he intended to "move out of the area" and leave Hull if he was "lucky" enough to be released from custody. He could work for his uncle as a labourer. He said that the amount of cash that was seized in his room at the hostel was about £700 and he realised that he could not expect it to be given back to him.
Buckingham was given a one-year suspended custodial sentence and 20 days' rehabilitation. He was ordered to pay £700 costs.
