A cocaine-addicted university student was being used by a dealer to peddle the Class A drug to others, a court has heard. The student was caught with wraps of the drug in the toilets of a popular nightclub and that discovery led police to finding a visitor from the West Midlands in his halls of residence room along with dozens of wraps of of cocaine and more than £1,600 in cash. Swansea Crown Court heard both defendants have turned their lives around in the almost four years since they were caught – a delay in the case being sentenced which one barrister called "extraordinary".
The court heard that on February 23, 2019, staff at the Pier Pressure club in Aberystwyth became suspicious of the activity of two men in a toilet cubicle and alerted the police. University student Maajid Shah was found in the cubicle with five wraps of cocaine. The student was arrested and officers then went to his room in the halls of residence where they found Jamal Berry-Parkes and £1,627 in cash. A search of the room found 80 wraps of cocaine hidden inside a sock but while the officers were searching the room Berry-Parkes fled in an incident the judge called "almost comedic". Both defendants subsequently denied any knowledge of the drug-filled sock.
Maajid Ali Shah, now aged 24, of Stratford Road, Hall Green, Birmingham, and 23-year-old Jamal Barry-Parkes of Selsdon Close, Wythall, West Midlands, had both previously been convicted at trial of possession of cocaine with intent to supply in regards to the drugs found in the room when they appeared in the dock for sentencing. Shah had previously pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to supply in regard to the wraps he had in the club toilet. Neither defendant has any previous convictions.
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Karl Volz, for Shah, said the defendant had been an "extremely heavy user" of drugs at the time of his offending but was now drug-free, aware of the devastating consequences of addiction, and was helping others with addictions. Ian Wright, for Berry-Parkes, said the fourth anniversary of the defendant's arrest was now just weeks away and, while the Covid pandemic had played its part, the delay in the matter coming to be sentenced was "extraordinary". He said though his client accepted the verdict of the jury he maintained the stance he held at trial. The barrister said Barry-Parkes had been aged 19 at the time of the offending and since then there had been an "utter transformation in his life" and he was now studying for a Higher National Certificate in building services engineering with a view to going to university.
Recorder Neil Owen-Casey noted that in their respective pre-sentence reports Shah had been candid abut his role in supplying drugs to other students while Berry-Parkes had maintained he had played no part in the enterprise. He said it seemed the two defendants had met by chance in Aberystwyth and while it was clear Shah had been desperate to fund his own habit – and to that extent had been vulnerable – Berry-Parkes was the "facilitator" who found a "ready market" for drugs in the town.
Berry-Parkes was sentenced to three years in prison. He will serve up to half the period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community. Shah was sentenced to two years in prison suspended for two years and was ordered to complete 240 hours of unpaid work.
Dyfed-Powys Police did not have a custody photograph of Jamal Berry-Parkes.
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