A street dealer was aged 17 when he was stopped by police with two phones, scales contaminated with Class A drugs, £100 and an assortment of different coloured Rizla papers. Despite the offences dating back to 2019, it has take more than two years for his case to come to court.
Tyreece Moran, now 19, pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of diamorphine and crack cocaine. Police stopped him in Clifton on September 9, 2019. One of the phones chased up debts for Class A drugs and the second was a "drugs line" used for supplying drugs.
Nottingham Crown Court heard the phones were not his and he had been asked by another to supply for about two months to reduce a debt he owed. Jon Fountain, prosecuting on Tuesday, March 22, described Moran's role as "significant role in street dealing". Delays were down to the analysis of the mobile phone evidence.
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A drugs expert report was dated July 2021. "So police have taken an inexcusable amount of time in submitting the case," said Mr Fountain. "It is certainly not Mr Moran's fault."
Judge Mark Watson, who sentenced Moran, said there was an obligation to have young people processed through the courts as quickly as possible and "police have dragged their heels", and the net effect is, "someone stopped at 17 is now 19".
Moran, of Brooksby Lane, Clifton, had stayed out of trouble ever since. He received 20 months in youth custody, suspended for 18 months, and 20 rehabilitation activity days.
Judge Watson said Moran was involved for a short period of time in the offences. He was stopped in September 2019 when he was 17. "To a certain extent you were exploited because of the debt you owed," he told Moran. "You are now 19. This has been an unacceptable delay, which is not your fault but the fault of the police who failed to deal with your case without a sense of expedition and have failed to deal with your case swiftly."
Chief Superintendent Mat Healey, of Nottinghamshire Police, said afterwards in light of the comments made: “Officers work extremely hard to get cases to court and through the justice system as swiftly as possible.
“Any unnecessary delay, especially within the police investigation before the case gets to court, is something that we will always look to avoid and is something we will look into should this be the case.
“Officers, quite rightly, must secure high quality evidence to bring forward a successful case, which can take valuable time and work was ongoing throughout the time this case was waiting to get to court, including gathering and preparing further evidence.
“All agencies within the criminal justice system have needed to make difficult decisions during the Covid-19 pandemic and, at times, it has been necessary to prioritise vulnerable people such as domestic abuse victims and high harm cases such as child abuse and serious knife crimes when preparing prosecutions.
“However, we know the impact that having a court case ongoing can have on all parties – particularly so when young people are involved, and it is our responsibility to get cases put in front of the courts as soon as we can and we continue to make improvements to make this process more efficient.
“The force is actually now leading the way in phone data analysis thanks to the ongoing uplift in officer numbers and our continuing investment in forensic technology.
“We have been able to boost our digital forensic capability by more than 50 per cent over the last two years and we have also implemented force-wide protocols to prevent a backlog of devices.
“The force has also recently invested in special digital media and forensics officers, interns and graduate investigators as well as upskilling other officers to examine devices linked to less serious offences. This means that delays in these types of cases have reduced significantly and should continue to do so.
“We also continue to invest in drugs investigations and dedicated drugs expert witnesses. In 2020, dedicated proactive Reacher teams were introduced across the county and as such we are able to carry out more enforcement warrants, prioritise investigations and ultimately get these cases turned around quicker.”
