Community service for drug user with “traumatic” background

Friday 14 May 2021

A “polite and mild-mannered” 21-year-old has been given 180 hours’ community service for possessing drugs after the Royal Court heard of the "exceptional trauma" he had gone through in his life.

Bradley Peter Harrison, who appeared before Commissioner Julian Clyde-Smith this morning, was also given a 12-month probation order.

Harrison had previously admitted 14 counts of possessing Class A, B and C drugs, including cannabis, ecstasy and THC oil, over a 21-month period between April 2019 and January this year.

Crown Advocate Rebecca Morley-Kirk, who recommended the non-custodial sentence that the Court accepted, said that the police had visited Harrison’s address on five occasions over the period, and on each time had found illegal drugs.

They also found drug-taking paraphernalia, including a bong, syringes, a set of scales and a significant number of small pots and jars.

Originally some of the charges he faced related to supplying drugs, but the prosecution later accepted that they were all for personal use.

The drug equipment, the Crown accepted, had been used by Harrison to check the weights of drugs he had purchased or as part of his attempt to start up a CBD oil business, CBD being a legal component of the cannabis plant.

In defence, Advocate Francesca Pinel said that Harrison had stopped using illicit substances since being charged and was now on a scheme that allowed him to take prescribed medicinal cannabis.

She added that he had now distanced himself from his previous drug-related associates and was positive about engaging with Probation Officers. 

“Probation describes him as a polite and mild mannered person, despite what he has endured in life,” she said.

Passing sentence, the Commissioner, who was sitting with Jurats Collette Crill and Gareth Hughes, said that Harrison had suffered “exceptional trauma, chaos, neglect and a significant bereavement” in his life and had used drugs to deal with PTSD, insomnia, depression and an eating disorder.

He added that the court was encouraged by Harrison’s wish to develop a career and access all the psychological therapies that had been recommended to him.