Drug dealer spared jail after cocaine found in underpants

Petre-Vasile Dubou, 27, of Sparsholt Road, Barking, was caught with 20 bags of Class A drugs and £260 in cash after being stopped by police in Basingstoke.

He appeared at Winchester Crown Court on Friday, October 9, where he was sentenced for possession with intent to supply a Class A drug and driving while disqualified.

Dubou represented himself at the hearing before Mr Recorder Gordon Bebb KC.

The court heard that on September 9, special constables PC Wooduff and PC Hillier were on patrol when they noticed a new Mercedes at the junction of Queen Mary Avenue and Norn Hill.

The car turned slowly and appeared suspicious to officers, who established it was a rental vehicle registered to Enterprise.

The officers carried out a Section 32 search and found white powder and a wad of cash.

Dubou was taken to Basingstoke Police Investigation Centre, where officers suspected he may have been concealing drugs.

Winchester Crown Courts (Image: Newsquest)

The court heard he made a hypothetical comment asking what would happen if drugs were found.

Drugs were later discovered in a blue wrap in his underpants.

He was arrested at around 9.30pm for possession with intent to supply and later driving while disqualified.

Dubou appeared at Basingstoke Magistrates’ Court on September 11, where he indicated guilty pleas to both offences.

He was committed to Winchester Crown Court for sentence on conditional bail.

The court heard Dubou had two previous convictions for driving with excess alcohol and failing to provide a specimen.

At the time of the offences, he was already subject to a community order.

The judge said that breach of the order was an aggravating feature of the case.

Addressing Dubou, the judge said: “You pleaded guilty to possession of a Class A drug with intent to supply.

“You were found with 20 bags of Class A drugs and £260 in cash.

“At the time you were caught, you were in breach of a community order which had been imposed not long before.

“The offence is so serious that only a prison sentence is justified.”

The judge said the starting point was four and a half years in prison, but said he would reduce that to three and a half years after hearing about the efforts Dubou had made to address his drug use.

Credit for his guilty pleas brought the sentence down to three years.

The judge said: “I am going to suspend that for two years.

“If you get yourself in any trouble at all then you will go inside.”

For driving while disqualified, the judge said the starting point was four months, increased to six months because Dubou was in breach of a community order.

After a reduction for his guilty plea, the sentence was four months, also suspended for two years.

Dubou was disqualified from driving for 45 months.

He was also ordered to pay £150 in court costs and a statutory surcharge.

When asked why he should not be sent to prison, Dubou, who appeared in court wearing a green T-shirt, said he had been struggling financially and had been offered money to drive drugs from one place to another.

He said: “I was really bad with money and the other guy said I’ll give you some money to drive the drugs from one place to another.

“I said that because I am confused, I am 27 and I need some money.

“I never touched, I never spoke to the clients, I was thinking just a bit of driving is not very serious, but now I see I shouldn’t do that ever.”

The judge told him driving while disqualified was “very serious”.

Dubou replied: “The guy said ‘don’t worry, don’t worry’. I don’t know, I’m very easy to influence. I didn’t tell my family, I did this on my own.”

The judge said he had read a pre-sentence report and it appeared Dubou had taken steps to get clean from drugs.

Dubou said: “I don’t know why I did this.”

The judge told Dubou: “Don’t get in any more trouble and you are now free to go.”

Dubou’s three-year sentence for possession with intent to supply and four-month sentence for driving while disqualified were both suspended for two years.

He will also remain disqualified from driving for 45 months.