Teen cannabis dealer given chance to turn life around

Friday 20 May 2022

A 19-year-old who supplied half-a-kilo of cannabis worth up to £22,715 has avoided prison in a “finely balanced” decision of the Royal Court.

Bradley Elliot Godfrey was told by the Bailiff, Tim Le Cocq, this morning that the Court’s decision to give him 200 hours of community service over a custodial sentence has been “far from a foregone conclusion” which should be "seen as a warning not to do it again.”

“We take it at face value that you have turned your life around and are proceeding in a progressive way,” he said. “We are giving you an opportunity; please do not not mess it up, and if you come back here again, there will not be a second chance.”

Earlier in Friday’s sentencing, Crown Advocate Matthew Maletroit had explained that police had search Godfrey’s home last May and had found 483g of herbal cannabis, 97.5g of cannabis resin, drug dealing equipment including digital scales, and £680 cash.

Godfrey was cooperative with the police, admitting that he supplied cannabis to about ten people. He also admitted that the cash had been the proceeds of his dealing.

After the police analysed Godfrey’s mobile phone, he accepted that many messages related to the supply of cannabis, adding that he had been doing so since 2020, when he was 16.

He told the police that he felt “stupid” for supplying cannabis but still smoked the Class B drug himself. 

Recognising that Godfrey was a young “street-level dealer” who had given a “frank admission of his involvement in drug dealing”, Advocate Maletroit proposed a sentence of 210 hours of community service.

Defending, Advocate Allana Binnie said that her client had been a recreational cannabis user but this had escalated during lockdown.

Prices rose and pressure was applied by his dealer to accept larger quantities,’ she said.

She added that Godfrey’s overall role was one of “a low-level unsophisticated street dealer who was selling small amounts of cannabis to a group known to him”.

She said: “Upon arrest, my client's first comment was to say he felt stupid for what he had done”, adding that he had cooperated fully with police, including admitting to dealing that officers would have not otherwise known about.

Advocate Binnie said that Godfrey had suffered a family tragedy since his arrest and was determined to prove to his family that he had turned his life around.

She added that her client, who is aspiring to be a barber, was “kind, good natured, embracing opportunities and had an awful lot to be proud of”.

As well as community service, the Court - with the Bailiff sitting with Jurats Jane Ronge and Andrew Cornish - gave Godfrey a year-long probation order.