Southend drug dealer Gareth Cox to be sentenced in July

Gareth Cox, 48, of Boston Avenue, Rayleigh, pleaded guilty to dealing crack cocaine and heroin, then went on the run before his sentencing hearing last summer.

Now in custody, he was produced at Basildon Crown Court on Wednesday (June 17) to hear his fate.

But the hearing was aborted when defence barrister Tommy Dominguez claimed his client had been forced into selling the drugs under duress.

Recorder Oliver Campbell KC postponed the sentencing to next month, ordering police to go through Cox’s phones and look for corroborating evidence.

Cox was one of three men arrested in relation to a drugs line peddling Class A drugs across Southend for 10 months in 2024.

The line operated across three different phone numbers in that time, sending thousands of marketing messages.

Cell site analysis showed it seemed to operate primarily out of Leigh on Sea, making regular visits to Brixton.

The other two men – one said to be the head of the line, one said to be a runner like Cox – have already been sentenced.

“This is a man that is essentially a runner in order to pay off a drugs debt,” Mr Dominguez said of his client.

“Mr Cox’s instructions to me – and he is adamant about it – are that within his mobile phone there are numerous text messages when he is threatened if he is not supplying drugs or running the drugs to others.

“But of course, he has pleaded guilty, so I am not looking to advance any defence of duress.”

Recorder Campbell said: “I accept, if there is some evidence of Mr Cox being threatened, that is relevant mitigation and something the court would take into account.”

But, he added: “I cannot simply assume that based on assertion without having seen any evidence of it myself.”

He ordered the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to ensure Cox’s phones - seized during his arrest in 2024 - are checked by police for corroborating evidence by July 1.

The rescheduled sentencing hearing will now take place on July 6.