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A 21-year-old man who had drugs with a street value of up to £45,000 in his home has been sent to prison for six years.
Joshua James Cauvain received a five-year-sentence for possession with intent to supply and an extra year for breaching a probation order imposed in 2021 for the same offence.
He has two previous convictions for possession with intent to supply MDMA, as well as public order and dishonesty offences.
Crown Advocate Carla Carvalho, prosecuting, said police found 1,081 tablets of amphetamines and more than 400 tablets of ecstasy when they searched his home in St. Helier on 30 June.
The drugs – which had a total estimated street value of between £30,00 and £45,000 – were concealed in freezer bags hidden in a rucksack inside a wardrobe at Cauvain's home address.
The stash contained amphetamine tablets marked 'NETFLIX', as well as MDMA tablets with a 'Red Bull' design.
Pictured: The MDMA tablets were found in freezer bags in a rucksack hidden inside a wardrobe in the lounge of Cauvain's home address.
Police also found evidence on the defendant's mobile phone that he been in contact with other drug users and suppliers.
The evidence included messages from a contact named 'CarbonZero' arranging for the exchange of "100 reds" [MDMA tablets] at a designated time and place.
Following the exchange, 'CarbonZero' messaged Cauvain asking: "Your chat is all wiped ain’t it".
Drugs Expert DS James McGranahan said that the messages demonstrate that Cauvain “was not simply looking after the drugs but he was in fact supplying these drugs to others”.
The defendant claimed at first that he was not planning to supply the drugs and had only been looking after them for someone else, but later pleaded guilty to the offence.
In December 2021, Cauvain had received a 480-hour community service order and put on probation for two years for possession of ecstasy with intent to supply. The new offence put him in breach of the probation order.
Advocate Chris Baglin, defending, said Cauvain accepted he would be going to prison but urged the Jurats not to impose a sentence of more than six of seven years.
He said of Cauvain: "He is not a drug user. He has ceased to use drugs and alcohol and he has made positive strides
"This is a young man who has been exploited by more sophisticated dealers who do not appear before this court. He is taking the rap for them, as it were."
And he said there was no evidence Cauvain had been paid for guarding the drugs, pointing out: "No cash was found."
But Cauvain had told police in interview that he was expecting to be paid, so Deputy Bailiff Robert MacRae said: "There was clearly a commercial element to this transaction."
The Jurats took into account his early guilty plea and the fact that he was still aged 20 at the time of his arrest, but the Deputy Bailiff said: "We are satisfied that the offences are so serious that a non-custodial sentence cannot be justified."
He added: "You have a history of failing to respond to non-custodial sentences."
The Deputy Bailiff described the community service order imposed on Cauvain in 2021 as an "exceptional sentence" imposed due to his age, early guilty plea and your previous good character.
"The hope was that you would never be seen in court again," he added. "Unfortunately that did not occur."
Cauvain's community service order from 2021 still had 195 hours to run but the Jurats replaced it with another year in prison, to run consecutively to the five years.
The Jurats sitting were Jane Ronge, Robert Christensen, David Le Heuze, Alison Opferman and Michael Berry.
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