Recruitment firm owner, 27, caught with £14,500 worth of cocaine in Portsmouth office desk drawer

A RECRUITMENT agency owner caught with £14,500 worth of near-import quality cocaine in his desk drawer has been jailed.
By Ben Fishwick
Published 22nd Sep 2019, 07:00 BST
Updated 27th Sep 2019, 20:18 BST
Pieter van Oorschot, 27, of Hopkins Court, Eastney, was jailed for two years and nine months at Portsmouth Crown CourtPieter van Oorschot, 27, of Hopkins Court, Eastney, was jailed for two years and nine months at Portsmouth Crown Court
Pieter van Oorschot, 27, of Hopkins Court, Eastney, was jailed for two years and nine months at Portsmouth Crown Court

Portsmouth Crown Court heard Dutch national Pieter van Oorschot was stopped by police in Portsmouth while driving a Mercedes.

The 27-year-old had four small packets of cocaine on him and two mobile phones - one with messages revealing he was involved in street dealing.

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When police searched his office at Challenge Enterprise Centre in Sharps Close, Copnor, a judge said they were ‘startled’ to find a huge lump of cocaine.

Pieter van Oorschot, 27, of Hopkins Court, Eastney, was jailed for two years and nine months at Portsmouth Crown CourtPieter van Oorschot, 27, of Hopkins Court, Eastney, was jailed for two years and nine months at Portsmouth Crown Court
Pieter van Oorschot, 27, of Hopkins Court, Eastney, was jailed for two years and nine months at Portsmouth Crown Court

In all the defendant had 147g of the class A drug at 85 per cent purity.

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Prosecutor Timothy Moores said the high purity ‘suggests that he has been supplied by someone relatively close to import level’.

Jailing the defendant for two years and nine months, Recorder Simon Foster said: ‘In March of 2018 police followed a Mercedes motor vehicle of which you were the driver.

Pieter van Oorschot, 27, of Eastney in Portsmouth, was jailed at Portsmouth Crown Court after being caught with cocaine. Picture: Hampshire policePieter van Oorschot, 27, of Eastney in Portsmouth, was jailed at Portsmouth Crown Court after being caught with cocaine. Picture: Hampshire police
Pieter van Oorschot, 27, of Eastney in Portsmouth, was jailed at Portsmouth Crown Court after being caught with cocaine. Picture: Hampshire police
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‘They stopped it. There they found four small packets of cocaine. You were arrested. There were two telephones. One was of particular significance.

‘They must have been startled, perhaps they weren’t, because when they got back to your office in Challenge Enterprise Centre, opened a desk drawer, the found nearly £14,500 of cocaine and snap bags and further (packs) of cocaine.’

Van Oorschot, of Hopkins Court, in Eastney, also admitted fraud in relation to doctoring a job applicant’s documents, the court heard.

Pieter van Oorschot, 27, of Hopkins Court, Eastney, was jailed for two years and nine months at Portsmouth Crown CourtPieter van Oorschot, 27, of Hopkins Court, Eastney, was jailed for two years and nine months at Portsmouth Crown Court
Pieter van Oorschot, 27, of Hopkins Court, Eastney, was jailed for two years and nine months at Portsmouth Crown Court

Jason Halsey, mitigating, said he was a ‘young man with a drug addiction’.

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He said: ‘He’s run a business, the business gets into debt. He gets into debt with his dealer. He’s offered an easy way out.’

Mr Halsey added: ‘He made the rather stupid and obvious decision to deal drugs.’

He nodded to well-wishers in the public gallery as he was led down to the cells on Friday.

Pieter van Oorschot, 27, of Hopkins Court, Eastney, was jailed for two years and nine months at Portsmouth Crown CourtPieter van Oorschot, 27, of Hopkins Court, Eastney, was jailed for two years and nine months at Portsmouth Crown Court
Pieter van Oorschot, 27, of Hopkins Court, Eastney, was jailed for two years and nine months at Portsmouth Crown Court

‘What he wants to do is to become that young man portrayed in the references that he once was and turn his back on peddling drugs and peddling misery.’

Van Oorschot admitted possession with intent to supply class A and fraud.