Officers raided Mark Thomas Morgan’s home hours after he had returned to the Island from the UK by ferry, the Royal Court heard . When asked: ‘Where’s the gear?’ the 51-year-old replied: ‘It’s on the shelf in the bathroom.’ He later told officers: ‘My life’s over now.’
The Superior Number, which convenes for only the most serious of cases, heard that two gold-coloured balloons were found which contained a total of 27.12g of light-brown powder with a wholesale value of about £4,000 and a street value of £27,000.
Crown Advocate Richard Pedley said officers also seized two mobile phones during the raid but ‘no messages obviously relating to controlled drugs were found on either device’.
Morgan, who admitted possession of heroin with intent to supply, had a ‘bad criminal record’, the court heard, but had not offended since 2009.
Advocate Holly Brown, defending, said her client strongly denied importing the class A drug and said he was ‘minding’ the heroin for an unnamed person for no financial gain.
‘Mr Morgan is remorseful and conscience-struck about the harm he could have caused,’ she added. ‘This remand in custody has given him valuable thinking time to allow the gravity of his actions to sink in.’
Addressing Morgan, Commissioner Julian Clyde-Smith, presiding, said: ‘Supplying class A drugs is a heinous crime. It’s an activity which has the potential to have a devastating impact on the community.’
Jurats Geoffrey Grime, Jerry Ramsden, Rozanne Thomas, Jane Ronge and Pamela Pitman were sitting.
