A naive dealer who led police on a high-speed car chase while on bail for intending to supply MDMA and cannabis is behind bars.
When Benjamin Strickley, 24, was pulled over by police on Grinkle Road in Redcar, they found around 100g of cannabis and a rock of MDMA in his jacket pocket.
Checking his mobile phone on December 18, 2013, officers found messages advertising the drugs which had been sent to 15 people and read “whiff, 50s or three for £120. Mandy’s, 50s or three for 120.”
Strickley’s barrister Victoria Lamballe said that other “boastful” messages - which suggested the high quality of his merchandise - showed “naivety and bravado”.
Strickley, of Back Lane, Skelton, was arrested, and made no comment to police.
While on bail, he was spotted by officers driving a Vauxhall estate car - his father’s - on Middlesbrough Road East in South Bank on August 3, 2014 at around 12.20pm.
Teesside Crown Court heard that Strickley initially stopped for police, but then sped off towards Redcar - travelling at speeds of up to 80mph - until he eventually abandoned the car on Ings Road.
A breath test after his arrest revealed 65mg of alcohol in 100ml of breath - over the legal limit of 35mg.
Strickley had been before the courts in 2011 for driving with excess alcohol, and received a community order on December 6, 2013 for cannabis possession.
Mitigating, Victoria Lamballe said: “Quite literally, he is the author of his own downfall.
“Without the text messages on his phone, he could only have been charged with possession. Those messages were sent only to friends and associates, and were in the words of a police officer, boastful.
“Sending them shows a naivety and bravado to paint his operation to be more impressive than it really was.”
Ms Lamballe said that Strickley knew he was over the limit and in his father’s car without permission when stopped by police in South Bank, and made a “foolish” decision to drive away.
He had pleaded guilty immediately to dangerous driving, but delayed his guilty plea for the charges of possessing Class A and B drugs with intent to supply until the date of his trial in January.
Ms Lamballe said that he had done so to spend one last Christmas and New Year at home with his family.
Recorder Felicity Davies said: “If you had pleaded guilty earlier, your sentence could have been reduced. This is symptomatic of your foolish approach so far.
“Boastful messages found on your phone prove you were clearly intending to supply drugs.
“And while on bail, you drove while over the limit, sometimes at 80mph, through red lights and built up areas, in broad daylight.”
Strickley was sentenced to 40 months in prison for possessing Class A drugs with intent to supply, and 10 weeks for dangerous driving - 42 and a half months in total.
He was also given 12 months in prison for possessing Class B drugs with intent to supply, and six weeks for driving while over the limit, to run concurrently.
Strickley received a three year driving ban.
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