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First Time Drug Dealer Caught In The Act After 10 Minutes

First Time Drug Dealer Caught In The Act After 10 Minutes

Zico Oldham was branded 'immature' following the incident

Dominic Smithers

Dominic Smithers

Things didn't go too well for a hapless would-be drug dealer when he was caught just 10 minutes after he started selling.

Zico Oldham, from Mexborough, was spotted acting suspiciously with two men by plain clothes officers on 20 November last year, a court heard.

Prosecutor Brian Outhwaite told Sheffield Crown Court how the now-20-year-old criminal was found with £90 in cash and a total of £610 of heroin and cocaine, as well as two mobile phones - including a 'drug-line' phone which is called by users to arrange deals.

The defendant pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply Class A drugs.

Mitigating, Joy Merriam described Oldham, who was 19 at the time of the offence, as 'immature', and said he was new to the area.

Ms Merriam said: "His mother wonders if he was set up as he was caught with ten or 15 minutes.

Zico Oldham was caught after 10 minutes.
SWNS

"He has never come to the notice of the police before and pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity."

She added: "A suspended prison sentence would be sufficient to meet the justice of the situation. He has not offended since and is at low risk of offending again."

However, Judge Roger Thomas QC said he found that account 'surprising and unrealistic'.

He told Oldham: "You quite clearly went into this offending with your eyes wide open and on an entirely voluntary basis.

"You chose to become a drug dealer in a park in Mexborough that is seemingly notorious for drug dealing.

"You don't use drugs. You are a fit and healthy young man. You wanted to put some money into your pocket.

"There's quite a lot about your case that's difficult to understand. This is out-and-out drug dealing."

Oldham was sentenced to 27 months of detention in a Young Offenders Institution.

Earlier this month, footage emerged of another dim drug dealer attempting to evade police - this time by jumping into a river - taking his £700 ($940) stash of cocaine and heroin with him.

Another dealer tried to escape police by jumping into a river.
SWNS

Finn O'Neill, 23, tried to run away from police after they tracked him down dealing Class A drugs near the River Cam on Fen Road in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire.

When he reached the river, he decided that his only chance of escape was via the water, and jumped in.

In the footage, a voice can be heard asking O'Neill: "Mate, what are you doing? Get out of the river now."

As he scrambled to keep the cocaine and heroin dry, holding it above the water's surface, officers managed to fish him out and arrested him for drug supply.

O'Neill was sentenced last month for the incident - which took place on 18 September - and handed two years in prison, suspended for 24 months.

Featured Image Credit: SWNS

Topics: Police, Drugs, Weird