A man who was ordered to do unpaid work as part of a suspended prison sentence order for selling cannabis at Latitude music festival was back in court today after breaching the order.
Oliver Hellis was stopped by police as he was leaving Latitude Festival on July 16, 2016, and admitted taking a quantity of cannabis to the festival to sell to friends, Ipswich Crown Court heard.
When he was arrested he was found in possession of £3,000 cash in £100 bundles, which he conceded was the proceeds of drug dealing, said John Farmer, prosecuting.
Hellis’ mobile phone was seized and was found to contain messages going back to January 2016 which showed he had been dealing cannabis.
Last year Hellis, 20, of Heron Road, Saxmundham, admitted being concerned in the supply of cannabis between January and July 2016, possessing cannabis with intent to supply on July 16, 2016, and possessing criminal property.
He was given a nine-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered to do 120 hours unpaid work in the community.
At the sentencing hearing Recorder Rex Bryan said: “Courts take the supply of drugs to young people very seriously.
“You had the beginning of a business and in fact you are very lucky that your business was nipped in the bud as if it had got any bigger the court wouldn’t have been able to take the course it has taken.”
The court heard that Hellis had been at Latitude with a large group of friends he had known from school and sixth form.
He told a probation officer that his family was disappointed with what he had done and described himself as “feeling like an idiot”.
The court heard that Hellis, who has 14 GCSEs and A-levels in maths, chemistry and physics, had dropped out of university as a result of the court case hanging over him but was hoping to go back in the future.
Today Hellis was back in the dock at Ipswich Crown Court and admitted breaching the suspended sentence order by failing to attend an unpaid work appointment.
Judge John Devaux said Hellis had eight hours outstanding on the unpaid work order and he added a further 16 hours to the order for the breach.
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