12 month reduction to drug dealer's sentence

Wednesday 25 September 2019

A cannabis dealer has had one year knocked off his prison sentence after his appeal was accepted by Guernsey's Court of Appeal.

Michael Meagher, 63, was sentenced to serve four years at Les Nicolles by the Royal Court after he was seen selling cannabis at the Braye Road Industrial Estate in July 2018.

In August of the same year, during their investigation, Customs Officers found a stash of nearly 500g of cannabis resin hidden under a wall at a nearby campsite. MDMA was also found in the stash in the wall, and diazepam was found at his house. It was after that was found that Meagher was actually arrested. 

Overall, Meagher was charged with supplying cannabis resin to a specific individual, supplying cannabis in general, intent to supply, and a number of possession charges. He was originally sentenced alongside one of the men he was selling too.

Pictured: Meagher was charged with supplying 49.2g of cannabis resin to Richard Clark, stashing 486g at a campsite, and having 1.72g in his home. 

In sentencing, Guernsey's Royal Court treated the charges Meagher was facing as two separate instances - when he was caught selling the cannabis in July, and when the drugs were found in August during the investigation.

This was the crux of Advocate Liam Roffey's case to the Court of Appeal on behalf of Meagher. He said the four year sentence his client had been given was manifestly excessive because all of those charges should have been treated as one set of offences. 

Speaking on behalf of the Court of Appeal, Sir Michael Burt said they agreed with Advocate Roffey. He said the Royal Court should have come to a starting point of four and a half years, and then applied a discount because of Meagher's early guilt plea. 

They re-sentenced him to three years in prison. His original sentence was passed in May of this year. 

To read more about why Meagher was arrested, click here.

Pictured top: The application was heard by Guernsey's High Court of Appeal.