Back pain sufferer jailed for "stockpiling" and sharing painkillers

Saturday 24 April 2021

A 38-year-old has been jailed after Police found nearly 200 oxycodone capsules in his flat - strong painkillers he planned to use to “self-medicate” back issues, while selling some to a "small" group of friends.

Paul Duffy, who will spend four years and nine months behind bars, was also found with 39mg of THC in a vape pen.

He appeared before the Royal Court's Superior Number – a panel that only assembles for the most serious cases – on Thursday, facing one count of possession with intent to supply oxycodone on a commercial basis, and one count of possession of THC.

Pictured: Duffy appeared before the Superior Number – a panel that only assembles for the most serious cases.

Crown Advocate Matthew Maletroit told Court the Class A drugs had been seized from Duffy’s home in February 2020 following a drugs search warrant.

During the search, officers found four boxes containing a total of 196 oxycodone capsules, worth around £1,960, as well as a spoon which contained 114mg of oxycodone residue, an apparent cutting for a “deal bag”, handwritten documents which appeared to be ‘deal lists’ and £311.50 in cash in a protein powder tub. 

Duffy initially claimed the oxycodone had been prescribed for his sore back by his GP in Glasgow, whose name and address he couldn’t remember. He explained that whenever he went to Glasgow, he would pick up a box and bring it back with him to Jersey and had one so about a month ago.

Officers contacted GP surgeries in Glasgow and found one with which Duffy was registered with, under his former name, who said he had never been prescribed oxycodone or any other medication since 2015.

Despite the patient records matching his former name and date of birth, Duffy suggested the police had contacted the wrong surgery.

Pictured: Duffy initially claimed the oxycodone had been prescribed for his sore back by his GP in Glasgow, whose name and address he couldn’t remember. 

Officers asked why the oxycodone boxes had no labels on and Duffy said he always removed them but couldn’t explain why. A drug expert suggested they had been bought on the illicit drugs market and that they were likely intended to be sold on due to the “large commercial quantity” and the deal lists, noting that it would have taken Duffy four months to go through the 196 capsules.

Duffy denied selling oxycodone and said he had “stockpiled” the capsules for himself, explaining he would take two a day when his back hurt or three “if it was really bad”.

While he accepted the handwritten notes were ‘deal lists’ and that the plastic bags were ‘deal bags’, Duffy said they were from years ago. However, he couldn’t explain the presence of the spoon with residue on it but said his friend sometimes came to his home to inject.

Duffy eventually admitted he was intending to sell a third of the tablets to “a small social circle of friends” at the price he had bought them, while the rest would have been for his own use, but the Crown rejected the basis of his plea. 

The Court heard that Duffy had completed a prison sentence, imposed for a separate offence from July 2020, just days before his sentencing.

Referring to Duffy’s Social Enquiry Report, the Crown Advocate said he had been assessed at a high risk of reoffending due to his criminal history and lack of employment. He also noted how Duffy’s efforts to address his drugs issues had previously been unsuccessful, including last year when his community opioid treatment programme had been discontinued because he had been using diazepam.

He recommended a prison sentence of five years as well as the destruction of the drugs. 

Pictured: Advocate Michael Haines was defending Duffy.

Defending, Advocate Michael Haines said his client’s offending was not the result of “a sophisticated, complex nor elaborate course of conduct”. 

He said the capsules were of a “very, very low value”, which wasn’t typical of a case involving Class A drugs, while the THC had “no material value of significance”.

He went on to say officers hadn’t found any “unaccounted for large sums of money” or “suspicious telephone or text entries”.

He told Court Duffy had been “self-medicating” his back issues which had been ongoing for 18 months before. Advocate Haines said Duffy had been referred to the physiotherapy department in December 2020 and then the back assessment clinic and may have a trapped nerve causing sciatica.

He said Duffy was planning on selling part of the drugs to keep funding his habit.

The Court heard that doctors would only prescribe low doses of medication for back relief due to Duffy’s history of opioid and benzodiazepine use. “He took matters into his own hands and sourced tablets for his relief,” he said.

He gave Court a letter of remorse written by Duffy, saying it was a “significant accomplishment” his client had written it by hand due to possibly having dyslexia. 

Advocate Haines said Duffy had an “excellent employment record” and had been in regular paid employment since leaving school at 15, having worked for a sheet metal company, as a labourer and more recently as a window cleaner.

Returning the sentence of the Court, the Deputy Bailiff, Robert MacRae, who was sitting with Jurats Anthony Olsen, Rozane Thomas and Elizabeth Dulake, noted Duffy had lied to officers in saying the deal lists were old since they were written on the back of letters from the end of 2019.

He went on to say Duffy had also lied when claiming the oxycodone had been prescribed to him.

He noted Duffy’s “poor record and history of substance misuse” and said only a “significant period of custody” would be appropriate before handing him four years and nine months in prison.