Dealer is jailed for four years
A police raid at a one-bedroom privately rented flat, in Maple Leaf Close a year ago turned up £2,500-worth of cannabis, cocaine valued at £2,000, and approximately £3,500 in cash, along with other drug-related paraphernalia.
The drugs and cash were hidden throughout the premises in tins and Tupperware boxes concealed in both the bedroom and kitchen a and even in the base unit of the kitchen cupboards.
Charles Simmonds, 24, of Maple Leaf Close, was charged with two counts of possession with intent to supply Class A drugs and two counts of possession with intent to supply Class C drugs.
Simmonds pleaded guilty to both counts of possession with intent to supply. relating to the Class C cannabis and one of the charges relating to the Class A cocaine.
He initially pleaded not guilty to the other charge of possession of cocaine with intent to supply but changed his plea to guilty just before a jury was sworn in for a trial on August 11.
On 20 January, Simmonds was sentenced at Croydon Crown Court to four years imprisonment for the Class A drugs offence and one year to run concurrently for the Class C drugs offences.
The drugs and drug-related paraphernalia were ordered to be destroyed and the cash seized to be forfeited.
A 23-year-old female also arrested at the time of the raid was later released without charge.
Sergeant Philip Spaul, the head of Bromley Police's Borough Support Unit team that led the raid, said: "All those involved in the raid were taken by surprise by the success of the operation and the quantity of drugs that were seized. "We did not expect to find this quantity of drugs in such a nice quiet little flat in Biggin Hill.
"However, this raid and the subsequent arrests demonstrate how seriously we take drug-related crime.
"The drugs market has a negative impact on our communities and can fuel other crime and this approach to improving Bromley Borough will continue throughout the year."
Charles Simmonds
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