This dopey dealer was caught using Royal Mail to deliver drugs around the country

A dopey dealer was caught using Royal Mail to deliver drugs around the country.

From his Tyneside home, Steven Taylor supplied customers near and far with cannabis, a court heard.

The 25-year-old, from Jarrow, was rumbled after one of the parcels – a cylinder marked “medical cannabis” – was intercepted by sorting office staff in Gateshead, on its way to Berkshire.

When police raided his home, they found hundreds of pounds of the drugs and several hundred similar cylinders, plus £6,200 in cash.

A financial investigation revealed more than £26,000 in unexplained money had passed through his accounts and a search of his mobile phone showed a quarter of all text messages related to drug dealing.

Prosecutor Alec Burns told Newcastle Crown Court: “This came to light because on November 17, 2016, an envelope was intercepted in the Royal Mail office at the Team Valley, addressed to Berkshire.

“The police examined it and found two plastic containers labelled medical cannabis.”

Mr Burns said the value of the cannabis in the seized packaged was between £40 and £60.

When police raided his home, officers found 92.31g of cannabis, worth over £900.

The court heard Taylor claimed the cylinders in his home were for “storage” and denied sending the envelope which was seized by the police, despite his fingerprints being on it.

But Taylor, of Durham Grove, Jarrow, admitted attempting to supply a controlled drug of Class B and possession of a Class B drug with intent.

Judge Amanda Rippon sentenced Taylor, who has just become a father, to 18 months imprisonment, suspended for two years, with 150 hours’ unpaid work and rehabilitation requirements.

She told him: “Using the postal service and supplying cannabis through it is very serious.”

The judge said cannabis supply provides cash to criminal gangs.

Gavin Doig, defending, said Taylor, who has no previous convictions, now realises how serious his offending was.