Drug dealer sent back to jail for seven years (From Worcester News)

Drug dealer sent back to jail for seven years

7:50am Friday 27th January 2012 in Local

A WORCESTER drug dealer who was arrested on a home visit from jail has been sent to prison for another seven years.

Lee Groves, of Pike Close, St Peter’s, tried to pass a packet of cocaine out through the police car window to his wife.

He also tried to smear the drug into the seat of the patrol car, then leapt out while handcuffed and threw the cocaine around the street.

Strip-searched at the city’s police station, more cocaine fell out of the the 43-year-old’s underwear, said Stephen Davies, prosecuting at Worcester Crown Court.

A search of the dealer’s home revealed four plastic bags containing cocaine hidden in a rung of a metal ladder attached to a wall.

Groves was convicted on Wednesday by a jury of supplying cocaine to his wife, Kathleen Groves, on May 21 last year.

He was also found guilty of two counts of possession of cocaine with intent to supply. Jailing him for the minimum period of seven years for persistent offenders, Judge John Cavell said he was convicted on clear evidence and his offending had been “consistent with the way he behaved in the past”.

Groves was on day release from a five-year sentence for drug dealing when he was arrested. That sentence ended in December last year.

The court heard that in 2000 Groves was found to have 200 ecstasy tablets at his home, 12 ounces of cannabis and half an ounce of amphetamine.

In June 2009, his car was stopped on the M5. It contained cocaine with a street value of £20,000 and £740 cash.

In a safe at his home, police discovered £2,000 plus scales and drug customer lists.

Police also found cocaine worth £17,000 in a locker he used at a fitness centre in Droitwich, beside 14 ecstasy pills and a Taser gun, a prohibited weapon.

Mr Davies told the jury that Groves was stopped by police in the latest crime as he drove a Fiat Punto in Dace Road, Worcester, at around lunchtime.

He appeared agitated, which made officers suspicious. As he was put into the police car his wife arrived on the scene and he passed her a drugs package. She was startled and dropped it.

Groves admitted in evidence that he got four years in 2000 for drug dealing and was serving a five-year sentence imposed in 2009 when he was caught with drugs during the home visit.

He admitted possession of the cocaine but claimed the drugs were for personal use.

He said use of the drug on a night out would cost him £300.

On the day of the home visit, his wife picked him up from Hewell prison, near Bromsgrove, at at 10am. He was due back at 7pm.

He had bought the drugs to last him on several home visits. He insisted he had given up his drug dealing past. Jason Aris, defending, said the seven-year sentence would have a devastating impact on his family’s life.