A DRUG dealer cried in the dock at Southend Crown Court as barristers argued over whether he was a player or a pawn.
Part-time barman Charles Mills, 27, of Saxon Gardens in Shoebury, was caught in April with a backpack containing 30 wraps of cocaine and £1,380 in cash.
Prosecutor Toby Roseman argued the baby-faced defendant must have played a “significant role” in the drugs line, and he had possessed a “substantial amount” of cash and drugs and been effectively chauffeured around by an underling.
Mills initially gave police a fake name and refused to provide the PIN number to unlock his phone.
He claimed all 30 wraps were for his own personal use.
But in court on Wednesday, he admitted possessing cocaine with intent to supply.
Defence barrister Christopher Martin said his client had been “supplying drugs on an ad hoc basis to fund his own habit - taken advantage of, to some degree.”
“There is no such thing as a typical drug dealer,” he said - but told Judge Samantha Cohen that “Mr Mills is quite different to those that not all come before this court in a number of ways. He is clearly vulnerable.”
Mills suffered from a variety of severe medical conditions, the court heard, including Type 1 diabetes, which had left him with “no energy”.
He started using cocaine for “a pick-me-up”.
After accruing a drugs debt, Mr Martin said, Mills, supported in court by his partner and his mum, became “an odd job man” for a drugs line, “used by others to hold a phone for a period of time, give it back, go and sell a few wraps from time to time.”
He told the probation service he feared his drugs debt would now have increased, after the wraps he was carrying were seized by police.
But asked by Judge Cohen whether he had heard from the dealers since his arrest, he said he had not.
“You’ve dodged a bullet there,” she said.
Asked whether he was still using drugs, Mills replied: “Up until yesterday, Your Honour, I hadn’t taken any Class A drugs since I was arrested.
“Yesterday, I became very distressed, very upset with everything and I was offered a line of cocaine, which I took.”
“I can understand that potentially your last night of freedom must have been something which was very upsetting for you and your friends,” said Judge Cohen.
“I should have spent it at home with my partner and I didn’t,” said Mills. “So that is my regret.”
“Well, you’re an idiot,” the judge said. “You’re lucky she turned up today.”
She told Mills: “You appear before the court for the first time in your life in connection with extremely serious offences.”
But, she said, “It is clear to me that the role you were playing was lesser.
“You were delivering drugs and collecting money for those drugs on behalf of other people and you were doing that in part because you owed them money and in part because they paid you a little bit in drugs or you to use yourself.”
She sentenced him to 18 months in prison, but suspended the sentence for 18 months.
“What you need, really, is some help to continue becoming a productive member of society,” she said. “You need to keep the job that you have got.”
She ordered Mills to complete up to 40 days of rehabilitation activities and, if eligible, to participate in a mental health treatment requirement.
He was also ordered to pay a £500 fine and a statutory £187 victim surcharge. He was given nine months to pay the sum.
If he reoffended or breached any part of the order, the judge warned him, “You will go to prison because you won’t have any other option.”
“This will be my first and last time, Your Honour,” Mills vowed.
“Good,” said Judge Cohen. “I’m glad to hear it.”
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