Serial offender back behind bars for offering to supply MDMA

Sunday 24 October 2021

Text messages offering to supply MDMA to others have seen a serial offender sent to Les Nicolles Prison for six-and-a-half years.

Stuart Michael Page (46) was sentenced by the Royal Court for 13 counts of drug possession and supply.

Across four police searches spanning 16 months, Page was found in possession of a total of 24.7g of cannabis, 19 diazepam tablets and 40 tramadol tablets.

He first pled guilty to a series of possession and supply offences between November 2019 and May 2020.  

This included the bulk of the cannabis possession (19.46g) and offers to supply cannabis, gabapentin and MDMA, a Class A drug.  

While on court bail with a sentencing hearing scheduled for February 2021, a further search of his property that same month led to the discovery of further offending. 

Pictured: Page was back in front of the Royal Court, having received a five year sentence for the armed robbery of a pharmacy in 2012.

Analysis of a mobile phone revealed that Page made offers to supply cannabis and diazepam to others. 

Over a dozen text messages were read out in court evidencing Page’s offers to supply others with illegal drugs and the arrangements he made to exchange them for cash or other substances. 

Defence Advocate Sam Maindonald sought credit for Page’s compliance with the investigation, willingly allowing access to his mobile phones, which contained incriminating messages. 

Page was never found in possession of any MDMA. The prosecution referred to three text messages that stated Page either had MDMA or was able to get hold of it to supply to others.   

Advocate Maindonald contended: “He was, on my [client's] instructions, just showing off to his associates.” 

She said Page struggled with a debilitating back condition and had other problems in his personal life which had led him to “pursue prescribed and illicit medicine to help him to cope.” 

Advocate Maindonald argued that Page’s offending was small in scale and that he only supplied drugs to people he knew.  

“Save from the MDMA offence, the Court is dealing with Class B and Class C substances of an unknown amount, which were likely to be of low quantities, which is indicative of what Mr Page was later found to be in possession of.” 

However, some of these offences were committed during the course of a community service order handed down to Page in 2018.

Text messages showed Page offering to supply his associates with drugs once his community service was complete, which indicated to the court that the non-custodial sentence had done nothing to rehabilitate the defendant.  

“The Court’s view is that continuing during that period was a very serious matter,” said Judge Catherine Fooks in delivering the verdict."  

This was aggravated further by Page’s extensive list of past offences and the fact he had continued drug dealing while criminal proceedings were ongoing.  

“It is disappointing that at 46 years of age he has not learnt his lessons,” she said of the defendant, who has previously been convicted for the armed robbery of a pharmacy. 

“You clearly have no respect for the police or court bail.”

Judge Fooks cited the duration of the offending, the variety of drugs supplied, the cash found on him during the first search, as well as the evidence and claims of supply. 

She concluded: “It all indicates an operation which was more than just to fund your own habit.” 

Page was sentenced to six-and-a-half years for being knowingly concerned in the offer to supply MDMA to others. This was the longest of the individual sentences and the other 12 charges were applied concurrently.