A 60-year-old drug dealer who was caught with 5kg of ketamine and over half a kilo of cocaine as he said he was making his way back from the races has been jailed for five years.
Christopher Smith, a businessman from Northallerton, was driving down the A1(M) when he was stopped by police in May 2023, York Crown Court heard.
When officers asked him if he had anything illicit inside his vehicle, Smith replied: “There’s a little bit of gear in the bag there.”
“He said it was just a little bit of cocaine,” said prosecutor Jennifer Gatland.
When an officer noticed some bank notes bulging from his trouser pockets, Smith replied: “I’ve just been to the races.”
A search of the vehicle and a subsequent search of his home revealed that Smith had not in fact got lucky at the races but was knee deep in a lucrative drug enterprise on a “commercial” scale.
During the search of his home, police found several drug packages and a “large quantity” of cash stuffed inside envelopes, along with several mobile phones and drug paraphernalia such as weighing scales and zipper bags full of cocaine.
In total, police seized just over 594g of cocaine and five kilos of ketamine. Some of the cocaine was 88 per cent purity.
A drug expert estimated the bulk value of the ketamine was between £15,000 to £25,000, which if sold on the street in smaller packages could bring between £69,000 and £82,000.
The bulk value of the cocaine was between £19,000 and £27,000, with an estimated street value of £33,000 to £41,000. The total cash seized was £2,929.
Smith was charged with possessing Class A cocaine and Class B ketamine with intent to supply and possessing criminal cash. He admitted the offences and appeared for sentence today (October 17).
Prosecuting barrister Ms Gatland said that Smith, of Malpas Road, had nine previous convictions for 24 offences including possession with intent to supply hard drugs which resulted in a three-year prison sentence in 1995. He also had a previous conviction for dealing cannabis from 1997.
His solicitor advocate Neil Cutte said that Smith had been running a business and had employees, but that had now been wound up.
He said that when Smith was younger he was involved in an organised crime group.
Recorder Dafydd Enoch KC labelled Smith a “commercial drug dealer”.
He told the Northallerton man: “At your age, you should no better, but I have no doubt that you went into what you were doing with your eyes wide open, and being caught, I suspect, is an occupational hazard.
“But you were caught bang to rights and unfortunately for you, you had a very substantial amount of drugs to sell. You had come back from the races, no doubt plying your wares there.
“You had a huge quantity of ketamine which from my experience in these courts is becoming one of the scourges of this society. It’s becoming the choice of drug for young people in society and it’s because of people like you, sir, that they have access to it, and you should feel ashamed for that.”
Mr Enoch said he was surprised that ketamine was still categorised as a Class B, rather than a Class A drug, as it was “the scourge of modern youth society”.
Smith received a five-year jail sentence but was told he would only serve half of that sentence behind bars before being released on prison licence.
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