Portsmouth drug dealer with knuckle duster busted with crack cocaine and heroin in Kinder Egg

Andrew Lewis was ambushed by suspicious police on Gunwharf Road, near Gunwharf Quays, around 4pm on April 14 before a scuffle erupted, Portsmouth Crown Court heard.

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As he was being arrested for an unrelated offence, the hapless 32-year-old dropped a disposable Nokia phone onto the ground which officers spotted had names of known drug users on. A search was carried out with wraps of crack cocaine and heroin found on Lewis, of Estella Road, Buckland, along with a knuckle duster.

A Kinder Egg was also discovered which had wraps of the Class A drugs. Checks of a disposable Nokia mobile and an iPhone indicated dealing was taking place. Lewis denied the egg belonged to him and said the drugs were for personal use. He also claimed the knuckle duster was given to him and he forgot he had it in his coat pocket.

The court heard Lewis was running drugs for others to feed his habit having turned back to drugs in late 2022 after his eldest brother died. It meant four of his five siblings have now died. Daniel Reilly, defending, said the ‘personal tragedy’ had contributed to the ‘relapse’. He said: ‘The death of his eldest brother was the lowest point for him.’

Lewis admitted two charges of supplying Class A drugs and a single charge of possessing an offensive weapon.

Judge, Recorder Tom Brown, said the offending was part of the ‘spiral of bereavement’ after Lewis was ‘asked to run as a dealer’. He said: ‘You were apprehended by police patrolling before you were arrested. There was a scuffle where you dropped a disposable Nokia phone to the floor. Officers picked up the phone and saw names of people they recognised.

‘A search produced an iPhone and wraps of crack cocaine and heroin. A Kinder Egg also had wraps of the drugs. A knuckle duster was found and the explanation you gave was that it was given to you by an acquaintance and you placed it in your pocket and forgot about it.’

The judge admitted he was ‘sceptical’ about the explanation. ‘This is not the first time you have been sentenced for having an offensive weapon,’ he said.

But the judge deemed the ‘exceptional circumstances’ of Lewis’ troubled life meant he did not have to deploy a statutory minimum six-month sentence for the defendant’s second offence of having a weapon.

Lewis was handed a two-year jail sentence suspended for two years, told to complete 15 rehabilitation days, a six-month drug requirement course and pay a £120 fine.

Recorder Brown added: ‘This really is the last chance (before going to jail). I hope you make the best of it.’

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