Cannabis suppliers all found guilty after routine police stop in Lyminster

Four local men from West Sussex appeared at Chichester Crown Court yesterday (Tuesday 30 March) for possession with intent to supply £9,000 worth of cannabis from 13 January 2009 in Arundel.

Aaron Benson, 20, formerly of Lloyd Goring Close, Angmering, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing and received a 26 week suspended sentence and ordered to attend a drug rehabilitation program. Credit was given to Benson for pleading guilty at the first opportunity.

Warren Damerel, 20, formerly of Shaftesbury Road, Rustington and Tony Jackman, 23 and James Perilli 25, both formerly of Howard Road, Arundel, all denied the offence and a six day trial took place in which all three were found guilty.

Warren Damerel, received a 33 week suspended sentence. Tony Jackman was jailed for 12 months and James Perilli for 14 months.

The four men were arrested when a police dog unit on routine patrol stopped a BMW on the Lyminster Road, near Littlehampton, last January. The officer spoke to the occupants and noticed an overpowering smell of cannabis from inside. The car was searched and several bags of cannabis were recovered along with a large amount of money. All four men were arrested on suspicion of possession of cannabis with intent to supply, with further searches taking place at several identified addresses. Further cannabis was seized at two other addresses in Littlehampton and Arundel. In total, cannabis with a street value of around £9,000 was recovered with cash totalling just under £3,000 being seized through the Proceeds of Crime Act.

DC David Midgley of Arun CID said: "This proactive stop has resulted in £9,000 of cannabis being removed from the streets of Sussex. The four men have received sentences to reflect their criminality and history. The £3,000 seized from the offenders will no doubt be missed by them. This money will be put back into the residents of Sussex, who we serve, through various schemes to reduce crime and target criminals. This case goes to show the offenders who travel on our roads, who commit crime on our streets, will get caught and dealt with robustly by the Criminal Justice System. It hammers home the message that crime does not pay."