‘Bubble’ drug dealer is jailed

A COMMERCIAL dealer who was supplying “ bubble” to fund his own use of the drug, has been jailed for six months.

Adrian Cottam (25) had been found with 57 grams of drugs worth more than £500, when police raided his then home in Padiham, on December 15, 2010. Included in the haul were three Class C drugs, which he used as cutting agents for the mephedrone. Two phones seized revealed text messages showing he had supplied drugs “over some considerable time,” Burnley Crown Court heard.

Cottam, of Hillside Avenue, Burnley, admitting possessing class B drug mephedrone, 1-benzylpiperazine, 1-benzyl-4-methylpiperazine and 1-(trifluoromethylphenyl) piperazine, with intent to supply.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Miss Silvia Dacre (prosecuting) said when police used a search warrant at the Padiham house Cottam told them he had drugs for his own use in an upstairs laundry basket.

Two bags were found under the floorboards: one had 5.73 grams of mephedrone, mixed with some of the three class C drugs, and another 50 gram bag of the same mixture of the four drugs and a very small amount of bubble. The drugs would have been worth about £570.

Miss Dacre now accepted he was going to supply the drugs stash.

Mr Richard Taylor (defending) said Cottam became involved in using mephedrone when it was a “ legal high”. He accepted he supplied some to a relatively close knit band of friends so he could continue to use the drug himself, and he no longer took mephedrone.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Mr Taylor said Cottam now turned his life around and had been offered work for Preston Council, starting on March 5th. “He is a hard working young man who made a significant mistake,” said Mr Taylor.

Sentencing, Recorder Maurice Greene said Cottam had had a “not insignificant” amount of drugs and had been involved for some time.

“It’s clear to me you were playing a significant role in drug dealing,” said Recorder Greene. “You had been involved in supply for some time, on certainly partly a commercial basis, albeit to fund your own habit.”

Related topics: