Court Reporter Ted Davenport writes for the Herald
A teenage drug dealer was tracked down by a police dog after fleeing for a mile and a half across fields to escape a police stop.
Samuel Taylor was in the passenger seat of a friend’s car when it was flagged down on the edge of Exmouth and he jumped out and ran off, leaving £1,500 worth of ketamine in the footwell.
He managed to escape at first but a police dog named Lenny was called in and followed his trail through fields, including one which contained a scout camp, before finding him in a hedge.
The German Shepherd dog also helped his handler locate a backpack which Taylor discarded during the pursuit. Messages on Taylor’s phone showed he had also been dealing in cocaine.
Checks on his bank account revealed that he had been paid £10,664 in online transfers from customer
Lendog strikes again 😍🐕🐾 30 mins behind a runner. 1.5km track mostly rural with some hard surface chucked in.Ended with pursuit chase but no deployment due to scouts in the fields 🤦♀️ eventually get him in a hedge 💥ARRETED FOR PWITS 😍🐾🐕@Devondogz pic.twitter.com/kX15FhZaXa
— PD Lenny & PD Lottie (@PDLendog) June 7, 2022Taylor, who was 17 at the time but is now 19,of Powlesland Road, Exeter, admitted being concerned in the supply possession of class A cocaine and class B ketamine.
He was jailed for 18 months, suspended for two years and ordered to do 140 hours unpaid community work and 15 days of rehabilitation activities by Judge David Evans at Exeter Crown Court.
He told him: “You did this essentially for cash and for months you had been making a deal of money from it. There were thousands of pounds deposited into your accounts by third parties.
“You had some work at Darts Farm at the time but you were in this for the cash. It may be you just chose to ignore the harm that drug use causes to users.
“This was some time ago and it may be that you have done some growing up. If you had been an adult at the time, six month older or so, this case would have a starting point of four and a half years.
“There is mitigation in that you have no previous convictions and not been in trouble since your arrest and you have some understanding that what you were doing was wrong. In future, just stick to earning cash by legitimate means.”
Miss Victoria Bastock, prosecuting, said police stopped a car for speeding in Exmouth on June 7 last year and Taylor ran away and was found after a one and a half mile track by a police dog.
A bag with ketamine with a wholesale value of £875 and street value of £1,500 was found in the car and inquiries and searches at his home showed he had been dealing in both cocaine and ketamine.
In one message on his phone he offered to supply an ounce of cocaine, which he called snowflake, for £1,500. He had £290 cash on him when he was arrested and £10,664 in suspected drug payments had passed through his bank account in the previous six months.
Miss Rachel Smith, defending, said Taylor had stayed out of trouble for almost two years since his arrest and is now hoping to move forward in his adult life, find a job and move out of the home he shares with his parents.
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