Man sentenced after drug and firearm offences

A 40 year old Southampton man was jailed for 9 years yesterday, 13 December. This comes after he pleaded guilty to a number of offences, and also having previously been found guilty by a jury of another offence.

Lee Carey, currently in prison but formally of an address in Bentley Green, Harefield, had his property searched under warrant in November last year.

Initially, in excess of £4000 in cash was found, together with cannabis plants, herbal cannabis and crack cocaine.

Further searches uncovered a container buried in the garden, which housed almost £23,000. A sawn off shotgun, zombie knife and nuckle duster were also found, and it’ll come as no surprise that all items were seized, to later be destroyed. A proportion of the cash will be used to reinvest into the police force.

The offences that Carey pleaded guilty to were;

-Possessing a controlled Class A drug with intent to supply (crack cocaine)
-Supplying a controlled Class A drug (heroin)
-Possessing a controlled Class B drug (cannabis)
-Producing a controlled Class B drug (cannabis)
-Two counts of possessing criminal property, namely £27,240 in cash

As well as the above, a jury found Carey guilty of possessing a prohibited firearm.

Via a social media post, DC Lee Murden, who led the investigation, said: “Drug dealing causes harm to our community by targeting vulnerable individuals and bringing firearms into our city.

“This is why, with our partner agencies, we operate a zero tolerance approach to any criminality which involves a firearm and other weapons.

“I hope this sentence sends a strong message that if you possess weapons or supply drugs, you will be prosecuted and can also expect a lengthy time behind bars.

“We rely on the public for information to plan warrants such as the one that led to Carey’s sentencing – so please continue to report what you know about drug dealing to us by calling 101 or reporting via our website.”

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