By James Simons-
A London drug dealer must now serve an immediate term of imprisonment following an intervention by the Solicitor General, Rt Hon Michael Ellis QC MP.
The case of Amir Mohamed, 22, who was arrested in December 2018 after being found in possession of Class A drugs, has been upgraded to a jail sentence after the criminal initially got away lightly.
Mohammed was caught with 36 individual knotted clear plastic packages containing a total of 3.00 grams of crack cocaine and 13 individual knotted clear plastic packages containing a total of 1.21 grams of heroin.
He was also found to have on his person just over £150 in cash and a bag containing cannabis. Although found guilty of two counts of possessing Class A drugs with intent to supply, he was sentenced to 24 months’ imprisonment, suspended for 24 months, at Snaresbrook Crown Court.
Following the Court’s decision, the Solicitor General referred the sentence to the Court of Appeal under the Unduly Lenient Sentence (ULS) scheme. On 8 December the Court found the sentence to be unduly lenient and increased it to 3 years’ imprisonment.
After the hearing at the Court of Appeal the Solicitor General, Rt Hon Michael Ellis QC MP, said:
Heroin and cocaine are deadly substances pushed by unscrupulous dealers. The offender was carrying a significant amount of Class A drugs with the intention of selling them for profit. This trade is ravaging our communities, and today’s decision by the Court of Appeal is welcome and sends a message to society
Lenient sentences discredit judges who fail to apply the full weight of the law. It is shocking that a man found with class A drugs on his possession could get away so lightly. The intervention of the courts exposes the sometimes incompetence of judges who fall for supposed mitigating circumstances presented by astute lawyers.
Such judges forget the bad signal they send to young impressionable teenagers, who may conclude that under particular circumstances could escape jail even when caught drug dealing. The intervention of the Solicitor General in lenient court sentences exposes the poor legal judgement of some judges, who on their own ought to give correct sentences, instead of having their credibility ripped to shreds.