‘Street dealer’ jailed for two years

Brandon Bamford, of Clooney Road, Campsie, pleaded guilty to a series of drugs offences committed between June 2017 and April 2019.

The charges include being concerned in the supply of cocaine, MDMA, and cannabis.

The 20-year-old also admitted offering to supply amphetamine, ketamine and LSD.

Derry Crown Court heard that police examined another man’s mobile phone and found messages linking Bamford to drug supply.

The defendant was offering to sell various drugs.

Bamford was arrested and his phone was seize.

It was examined and confirmed that he was offering drugs to a ‘substantial amount of people’.

At times messages were sent to groups of people and Bamford was selling cannabis to 45 people.

The court heard that the defendant began selling drugs when he was just 12-years-old.

It was also revealed Bamford ran up a drug debt when he was previously in custody and struggled financially as a result.

Passing sentence, Judge Philip Babington said Bamford is ‘someone who is a potential danger to the public in that he appears to be able to supply a wide variety of drugs and has contacts both from whom he can buy and knows those who wish to purchase from him.’

He added that the 20-year-old’s involvement in supplying class A drugs is ‘particularly serious and the outcome of this sentencing exercise is inevitable’.

Judge Babington said it is ‘rare to see someone so young being involved in the supply of so many different drugs’.

He said it was accepted Bamford was acting as an intermediary, but was ‘fully involved in this activity’.

The judge said the defendant was a ‘street dealer’ and there was no evidence he was making money for himself.

“There are no outward signs of wealth and presumably he is only making sufficient to sustain his own drug use”, he added.

The judge said that the community are ‘entitled to protection’ from someone who has shown he can access a number of different drugs. He said that there may be some hope in Bamford’s case as he claims he wants to change his ways and made full admissions during police interview.

However, Judge Babington said ‘only time will tell’. The judge imposed a determinate sentence of two years, half of which will be spent in custody and half in the community on licence.