KELLEY: DRUG DEALER HAD POT IN THE PANTS

A drug dealer caught with three lumps of cannabis hidden in his pants has escaped jail so he can go to university.

Would-be business tycoon Suresh Kelley, 28, also had cocaine and amphetamines in his sock which he intended to share with his friends, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard.

The judge, Mr Recorder James Dawson said: ‘The East End is awash with drugs, and dealers like him go to prison.’

But he allowed Kelley to walk free with a suspended sentence after hearing he had won a place to study business management at Westminster University.

Nathan Palmer, prosecuting, said police stopped Kelley on 16 September last year as he emerged from a flat in Clarence Road, Hackney.

He smelt strongly of cannabis and appeared anxious to keep police away from his waiting car, the court heard.

Asked of he had any drugs on him, he replied: ”Yeah, it’s down my pants.’

‘The police then took Mr Kelley to a police vehicle so they could perform a thorough search,’ said Mr Palmer.

They found three large wraps of cannabis in his underwear, worth around £100.

Wraps in his sock contained £200 worth of cocaine and a type of amphetamine known as bzmp.

‘It was obvious to the officers that the defendant had just bought these drugs,’ said Mr Palmer.

When asked what they were for, he said: ‘It’s for a party, for my friends.’

Kelley admitted possessing class A, B and C drugs with intent to supply on the basis he would not have made any profit of the drugs.

His lawyer, Mark Fidler, said unemployed Kelley had been addicted to drugs for seven years, but had sought help after his arrest and had now been clean for around three months.

He argued that a prison sentence could have a ‘detrimental effect’ on Kelley.

The judge replied: ‘It has a detrimental effect on his supplying other people with drugs.’

But he agreed to suspend a prison sentence after hearing that Kelley had accepted a place on a business management BSC due to start this month a Westminster University.

‘I stay my hand because I do not think someone should be denied that opportunity if it has been given to them,’ he told Kelley.

‘I have decided although I am going to pass a prison sentence I can suspend it.

‘Bear in mind though Mr Kelley, that drug dealers go to prison, and if you do this again that’s where you will go.’

Kelley, of (flat 13) Loreburn House, Holloway Road, Islington, was given a 12 month prison sentence for possession of the drugs with intent to supply, suspended for two years.

He was also required to obey an electronically-tagged curfew for three months, carry out 200 hours unpaid work and pay £800 in prosecution costs.

ends.