October 5, 2018 3.21 pm This story is over 65 months old

Three in court after teen found with 148 wraps of drugs

148 wraps of heroin and crack-cocaine were seized

Dreece Antonio Dayle, 22, was sentenced to three years and three months in jail. Photo: Lincolnshire Police

Three men appeared in court after police seized 148 wraps of heroin and crack-cocaine from a 16-year-old boy when they stopped a hire car in Grantham.

Lincoln Crown Court heard the teenager had travelled to Grantham with three other men from the Wolverhampton area after pressure was put on him to pay off a £500 drugs debt.

The car was being driven by 64-year-old David Charles Jacobs who had also been “taken advantage of” to drive the car because his age would not attract attention.

Rene Ross, 19, who was a passenger in the car, admitted allowing his mobile phone to be used by his friends after he went along for a drive.

Dreece Antonio Dayle, 22, who was also a passenger in the car, was found in possession of £1,120 in cash after police stopped the car in Princess Drive, Grantham, on November 2 last year.

Richard Sheldon prosecuting, said the 16-year-old was carrying 34 wraps of crack-cocaine and 114 wraps of heroin.

“At £10 a wrap that is a substantial amount,” Mr Sheldon told the court. “In total the value of the drugs was estimated at £1,440.”

Mr Sheldon added: “Jacobs had hired the car and was a much older man. The police accept he was used by others not in the car because he would be less suspicious.

“Dayle had money, and Dayle and Ross had mobile phones.”

A GPS device within the car showed the four males had made various stops in the Midlands during their journey from Wolverhampton to Grantham.

The 16-year-old told police he had travelled to Grantham to pay off a £500 drugs debt after receiving some pressure in the form of text messages.

Ross had previously suffered a broken leg which ended a promising football career and had gone along for a drive, the court heard.

Jacobs admitted he had slept in the car, and Dayle said while he had nothing to do with the drugs he knew something was going on.

Passing sentence Recorder Gareth Evans QC said he accepted this was not a “county lines” case where younger people were being trafficked.

“He (the 16-year-old) had travelled to Grantham to sell,” the Recorder added.

The youth, who is now 17, pleaded guilty to possessing heroin and crack-cocaine with intent to supply on November 2, 2017, and was sentenced to an 18 months youth detention and training order.

Jacobs, of Howard Court, Wolverhampton; Ross, of Wolverhampton Road East; and Dayle, of All Saints Road, Wolverhampton, all admitted being concerned in the supply of Class A drugs on the same date.

Jacobs was sentenced to two years imprisonment suspended for two years after the judge accepted he had been taken advantage of and given drugs in exchange for driving.

Ross was sentenced three years in a young offenders institution.

Dayle was sentenced to three years and three months imprisonment after he also admitted breaching a suspended sentence for dangerous driving on the M6. He was also banned from driving for four and half years.

The Recorder told all four men: “On the November 2 2017 a car travelled from Wolverhampton to Grantham for one purpose. That was to sell Class A drugs. You four were in that car.”