Teenager avoids jail sentence after being found in Gosport with £1,800 worth of drugs

George Okah was stopped by police in Gosport on February 5 this year with wraps of crack cocaine and heroin. 

The 19-year-old narrowly avoided jail after pleading guilty to two counts of possessing class A drugs with intent to supply. 

Portsmouth Crown Court heard Okah was walking along The Thicket with another male when he was spotted by police.

Prosecutor Robin Sellers said the other man ran off and Okah, who was 18 at the time of the offence, was stopped and searched.

'˜Before he was searched, the defendant told the officers there were drugs in his pocket,' he told the court.

'˜He said he saw a tall, black man put some drugs behind a bush so he picked them up.

'˜He pulled a wrap from his pocket which contained a number of smaller wraps. He also had two mobile phones and £115 in cash.' 

Mr Sellers said a second wrap containing drugs was found in Okah's sock during the search.

The package from his pocket had 44 wraps of crack cocaine with a street value of £880 and 21 wraps of heroin with a street value of £525.

Meanwhile, the package in his sock contained a further 10 wraps of crack cocaine with a street value of £400.

'˜The mobile phones had text messages that appear to be consistent with the usual sort associated with drug dealing,' Mr Sellers added.

In mitigation, defence barrister Frederick Hookway said Okah, off Mason Street, Reading, was relatively young and naive and the message on the mobile phones only related to the day in question.

He added: '˜The defendant admitted to being with another male and the fact Mr Okah is the one carrying the drugs is evidence he is lower down on the chain of supplying drugs.

'˜Messages were found on his phones but there is no evidence of dealing prior to the date he was arrested.'

Recorder Karim Ezzat sentenced Okah, who had no previous convictions, to two years in prison suspended for two years. He was given an electronic curfew for six months, must complete a thinking programme and do 200 hours unpaid work.

Recorder Ezzat said: '˜The impact drugs have on communities is grave. If you want to spend your late teens and early 20s doing something positive with your life you will avoid the people you have been with the past year.'