‘Street drug dealer’ says he ‘never escaped burden’ of £100K confiscation order

Manesh Patel, 47, was arrested after police came to his house in a morning raid on May 1 last year.

Bolton Crown Court heard how officers outside the house saw Patel drive as part of a normal morning routine.

Prosecutor Adam Lodge said: “The police stopped his car, the defendant ran off but was detained after a short distance.”

Mr Lodge told the court that Patel was arrested and eventually dealt with for drug driving.

The case was heard at Bolton Crown Court (Image: Anthony Moss)

But on searching his home the officers found packs full of cocaine stashed away in the cupboards of his bedroom, which he used for street dealing across Bolton.

Mr Lodge said there were 15 wraps of cocaine, coming to a total of 19.8g coming to a value of £1,990 at “street level”.

Officers also found around £1,200 in cash along with mobile phones, snap bags, and scales, all used as part of Patel’s drug dealing operation.

Patel was then re-arrested at the police station and gave no comment to his caution or during his interview.

Mr Lodge told the court that Patel has 11 previous convictions for 18 offences, including a seven-year prison sentence for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs in 2008.

He was then jailed again for possession with intent to supply Class A drugs for 40 months in 2015.

Brought before the courts for his most recent crimes, Patel, of Bury New Road, Heywood, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply Class A drugs.

Mr Lodge said this meant it was his third relevant drug conviction.

Darren Finnegan, defending, said Patel “entirely accepts that he was going to supply the drugs to others”.

But he said there was “an element of exploitation” behind Patel’s crime and that he “ended up in this situation by mixing with the wrong people”.

Mr Finnegan said Patel had been “struggling” with a £100,000 confiscation order that had been handed down as part of a Proceeds of Crime Act process connected with his previous offences.

But Judge Jon Close noted that Patel had last been dealt with for possession for intent to supply Class A drugs back in 2015.

He said this was “pretty much” at the end of the seven years sentence he had already been given for the conspiracy charges back in 2008.

With the 2015 sentence over he had then got back to dealing drugs “at street level”, which Judge Close described as “your own operation”.

Judge Close noted that the Proceeds of Crime Act process left Patel with a “financial burden from which you never escaped”.

He jailed him for a total of just under five years and eight months, coming to a total of 2,045 days.

Source – INDIA TV