Bassetlaw woman waited three years for ‘small-scale’ drug dealing sentence

Police officers arrested Suzanne Mitchell at her home on Amanda Road, Harworth, on April 25, 2021, and she admitted selling the class B drugs when she appeared at Nottingham Magistrates Court, on June 1, last year.

Laura Hocknell, mitigating, said Mitchell, now aged 53 and of previous good character, was "a fairly long-standing user of cannabis".

She began dealing on a "small scale" after she was made redundant and waiting for redundancy money.

"She turned to supplying friends and associates to fund her cannabis habit and may have had a bit left over for a bit of shopping," she said.

"She is someone who has settled down and kept her head down. She has learned a very bitter lesson.

"She has had these matters hanging over her for nearly three years and she has been very frightened.

"This is at the lower end of the spectrum. This is a case that is crying out for a suspended sentence."

But on Wednesday, Nottingham Crown Court heard the police also seized £7,500 in cash during the raid which the Crown wants to confiscate under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Ms Hocknell said the money belonged to another man who kept it at Mitchell's address for safe keeping.

"As she says, if she had £7,000 lying around she wouldn't have engaged in this sort of criminality," she added.

Recorder Stuart Sprawson adjourned the case until February 9 for further enquiries.