Sutton drug man's year-long wait for court appearance

A Sutton man who was found with controlled drugs had to wait more than a year to be dealt with by the courts.
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Police discovered a tin of Fentanyl patches in Steven Page's bedroom drawers on April 18, last year, while they were investigating another matter.

Page said a friend gave them to him after they were prescribed for nerve damage, and he used some but they didn't have any effect, said prosecutor Robert Carr.

Mr Carr was unable to explain why it had taken more than a year for the case to be heard, even though forensic testing of the drugs was completed in August.

Chris Perry, mitigating, said Page had recently come out of a residential drug de-tox programme, and was now on a methadone prescription.

"He is looking forward to a brighter future," he said. "He hadn't appreciated they were Class A drugs."

Page, 37, of Mount Pleasant, admitted the charge at Mansfield Magistrates Court, on Wednesday.

District judge Andrew Meachen said: "This should have been sorted out a long, long time ago."

He gave Page a 12 month community discharge, and ordered him to pay a £20 government surcharge, but no costs were imposed because of the delay.