He ‘chickened-out’ of dealing

Craig Mercer called the police from Creswell Leisure Centre, near Worksop, on Tuesday 13th March - stating that he was wanted by them.

“He wasn’t but, when approached by police, he said ‘I’ve taken some M-Cat, I’m a dealer’,” prosecutor Jenny Fitzgerald told Chesterfield Magistrates Court this week.

“He gave an officer his locker key and inside it was a carrier bag containing white crystals which turned out to be mephedrone.”

Mercer, 24 had £10 worth of cannabis on him and a £20 bag of mephedrone, also known as M-Cat - an illicit stimulant - was also seized.

Mrs Fitzgerald said the larger, 249g bag of mephedrone could have fetched as much as £5,000 on the street if sold in 1g deals.

“He had a drug habit and was under pressure to fund it,” his defence solicitor Bob Sowter told the court.

“He thought some small-term dealing would help, but he changed his mind and shopped himself.”

“It was a cry for help,”

Mr Sowter added: “It wasn’t a commercial venture.”

“He took some drugs and then ‘chickened’ out for want of a better word.”

Probation officer Laura Randall said he had seen a psychiatrist, adding: “There were issues of self-harm, auditory and visual hallucinations and feelings of persecution.”

Mercer, of Franklin Crescent, Whitwell, admitted possessing mephedrone with intent to supply it, and possessing mephedrone and cannabis.

He will later be sentenced by a judge at Derby Crown Court on Friday 22nd June.