ATTEMPTS by a dealer to smuggle what he believed to be drugs into Creamfields were halted by a well-trained police dog.
Bradley Coppard approached the entrance to the Daresbury-based music festival with wraps of caffeine stashed up his bottom.
The 20-year-old believed the wraps contained ecstasy, which he intended to sell inside the site for ‘enormous reward’.
He committed the offence while under investigation by the police for another drug matter, in which he was caught with a significant amount of cannabis on a golf course.
Coppard appeared to be sentenced at Chester Crown Court on Tuesday after admitting attempting to possess ecstasy with intent to supply and possession of cannabis with intent to supply.
James Coutts, prosecuting, explained how the cannabis charge occurred on February 28 last year, when officers from Cheshire Police were called to Eaton Golf Club near Chester.
Two men, one of which was the defendant, were reported on the course acting suspiciously after it had closed after being spotted on CCTV.
The pair were located in the vicinity by police and tried to kick a rucksack into a bush. Officers could smell cannabis on them, with a search of the rucksack recovering 42.7g of the drug worth between £360 and £500.
Police also seized three sets of scales, an iPhone and a quantity of cash. Coppard was arrested, and in his police interview he admitted that he was selling drugs to fund his own ‘heavy’ habit.
He was released under investigation and was later charged in December, however before then, on August 27 last year, he committed a further drug offence.
At around 3.15pm, on the second day of Creamfields music festival, he was stopped entering the north entrance by plain clothes police officers who were alerted by a drug dog.
When questioned, he admitted to having 11 wraps of ketamine secreted in his bottom, which was recovered along with a three-day festival ticket and a mobile phone.
The drugs were analysed and found to be 8.15g of caffeine, although text messages from his phone showed he believed he would be selling ‘magic’, or crystal MDMA, inside the festival.
The substance was valued inside Creamfields at £220 if it was indeed sold as ecstasy.
Mr Coutts revealed that Coppard has one previous conviction for a public order offence, for which he was given a four-week curfew.
In defence of his client, Phil Clemo said that he was ‘sensible enough’ to enter guilty pleas at the first opportunity, for which he should be afforded full credit off his sentence.
He spoke of the defendant’s ADHD diagnosis, which meant he found Covid lockdowns more difficult than most, while the sudden death of a close family member sent him into a ‘downward spiral of not giving a damn’ about the consequences of his actions.
Mr Clemo said that Coppard is no longer on drugs, has ‘taken himself entirely out of that world’, and is not someone likely to trouble the courts again.
In light of what was an ‘aberration’ of a year in which the defendant was in ‘emotional turmoil’, as well as only possessing caffeine, he asked judge Patrick Thompson to suspended the sentence, but he was told: “What message does that send out?"
Before sentencing, Judge Thompson said: “This time of year is a sad time for court judges when we have to deal with people supplying drugs at Creamfields.
“It usually involves young people like yourself, often with no previous convictions with good futures ahead of them that thought they would not get caught.
“The reason they take such a risk is because the reward is enormous, but with risk comes danger.
“You walk past amnesty bins outside the festival and sign after sign after sign warning about drugs and what has happened to other young people who thought they could beat the system in the past.
“Those who make such determined efforts to take drugs in must expect, and will receive, a significant sentence.”
Coppard, of Long Lane in Waverton, Chester, was sentenced to two years and eight months in a young offender institution.
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