Ecstasy teen behind bars

Judge Michael Mott made the comments yesterday as he sentenced Worcester teenager Anthony O'Shea at the city's crown court.

Police who stopped and searched O'Shea outside his place of work in the city centre found he was carrying nearly 200 ecstasy tablets, worth up to £1,300.

The 19-year-old former McDonald's worker lied that he had been paid to look after the drugs, but then confessed they were his.

Judge Mott told O'Shea he intended to "ram the lesson home" that ecstasy was a dangerous drug which could kill, in the hope that others would resist the temptation to become dealers.

He gave the teenager, of Hall Green, Upton-upon-Severn, four years' detention.

The judge said O'Shea had become a commercial supplier. The evidence was in a notebook, which contained a dealer's list.

O'Shea, who worked at McDonald's in Foregate Street before he was sacked, was standing with three other youths outside the fast-food premises when police approached him on May 10 this year.

They discovered two bags of drugs in his pockets. One contained 140 ecstasy tablets and the other 50 tablets, said Ruona Iguyovwe, prosecuting.

In the defendant's bedroom, police found plastic bags for supplying deals and the notebook.

O'Shea, who admitted possession of ecstasy with intent to supply, finally admitted he bought a large quantity of the drug to get it at a discount price and shared it with his friends.

Samantha Forsyth, defending, said O'Shea had no previous convictions and came from a good family. His parents were horrified to see him in the dock and he was terrified of going into custody.

"He's had a difficult task explaining to his father what he's been doing the last two months," she said.

"He started going to nightclubs and taking ecstasy. The addiction grew."

Miss Forsyth said there was no evidence he used his place of work as a base for dealing in drugs. O'Shea had squandered his education and let his family down.

n Opinion: P6