Drug dealer jailed after getting stranded and arousing suspicion of locals - The Stratford Observer

Drug dealer jailed after getting stranded and arousing suspicion of locals

Stratford Editorial 12th Aug, 2017   0

A DRUG dealer who was stranded when he was ordered off a train for having no ticket has been jailed.

When police carried out a stop and search on Akiem Burton in Claverdon, near Warwick, they found more than 40 deals of heroin and crack cocaine on him.

At Warwick Crown Court he pleaded guilty to two charges of possessing class A drugs with intent to supply them and possessing a bladed article, a bayonet-sized knife.

Burton, age 20 of Cotswold Close, Rednal, Birmingham, was jailed for 21 months for the drug offences – with a consecutive four-month sentence for the knife.




Prosecutor Ravi Sidhu said at around lunchtime on May 24 the police had reports of a suspicious-looking person in Claverdon.

When officers turned up, they found Burton, who was wearing a long winter coat and a distinctive woolly beanie hat, even though it was a warm day.


Burton said he had just been to a shop in the village and was in a hurry to catch a train.

But, unconvinced by his explanation, they searched him and found a small amount of cannabis on him. Burton tried to pull away from them, and there was a violent struggle before he was restrained.

The officers found a clingfilm package in his coat, containing ten £10 wraps of heroin and 33 deals of crack cocaine worth up to £660.

In the waistband of his trousers they found a knife.

After arresting Burton, who was subject to a suspended sentence at the time for possessing a bladed article, the police found messages on his phone which indicated the supply of drugs.

At his home, other officers found other drug paraphernalia.

Of how Burton came to be in Claverdon on that day, Mr Potter said: “His account of being turfed off the train because he doesn’t have a ticket is more likely to be correct than that he was intending to supply there.”

Jailing Burton, Deputy Judge Michael Stokes QC, told him: “You were before the court last year and received a suspended sentence of imprisonment for carrying a knife in a public place.

“In May this year you were caught in possession of crack cocaine, heroin and a tiny amount of cannabis and a big knife, while you were on that suspended sentence.

“You are a 20-year-old man, and there is an indication in the doctor’s report you are suffering from depression, but that is no excuse for acting as a drug dealer.

“The knife was a very large knife, the size of a bayonet, and there has to be a consecutive sentence for that,” he added.

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