Heroin "minder" jailed for over five years

Tuesday 24 July 2018

A 51-year-old man has been jailed for more than five years after officers found 27 grams of heroin, worth up to £27,000, in his house.

Mark Thomas Morgan maintained he was only minding the drugs for a colleague.

Yesterday, the Royal Court heard that on 17 March 2018, Morgan was being watched as he left the Elizabeth Terminal after his return from the UK. He was seen arriving at home at 17:00. Shortly after 21:00, Police Officers decided to search the address. When entering his flat, an Officer asked Morgan, "Where's the gear?" to which Morgan replied, "It's on the shelf in the bathroom."

Two, gold-coloured, knotted balloon packages were seized and Morgan was arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking. The bags were found to contain a total of 27.12 grams of heroin, worth up to £27,000 in Jersey. An Official Analyst said this value had the potential to be multiplied many times if diluted with further cutting agents.

Morgan was compliant during his arrest but one Officer noted he became very depressed, saying things like "My life's over now." No drug paraphernalia such as burnt tin foil, needles or syringes were found in Morgan's flat. 

During his interview, Morgan said he had been living in Jersey for five years and had worked as a builder as well as a painter and decorator. He refused to comment on his income and financial position. He also refused to explain how he had been able to afford a £64,000 Porsche Macan S a few months earlier. 

Crown Advocate Richard Pedley said that Morgan had explained he was only minding the packages for a work acquaintance and that he didn't expect any money for it. But it appeared that no arrangement had been made for the drugs to be collected from Morgan. 

Defending, Advocate Holly Brown said Morgan was acutely aware of the gross error of judgment he had made, and told Court he offered his sincere apologies.

She said that the fact nothing of note had been found on either of Morgan's phones showed he was not involved in a commercial entreprise. "Otherwise there would be a chain of communication," she added.

She also said the defence did not accept the prosecution's suggestion that Morgan had imported the drugs into Jersey by carrying them internally, or at all.

Royal Court Commissioner Julian Clyde-Smith, sitting with Jurats Pamela Pitman, Jane Ronge, Geoffrey Grime, Jerry Ramsden and Rozanne Thomas, noted that Morgan had an extensive record, mainly for dishonesty offences.

He said: "The supplying of class A drugs is a particularly heinous and anti-social activity which has the potential of devastating impact on the community."

He sentenced Morgan to five years and two months in prison and ordered the destruction of the drugs.