Bangor class A drug dealer claimed his machete was for ‘cutting meat’

Callum Kinney claimed to officers that the machete was for “cutting meat”.

Kinney, 25, of Lightbowne Road, Manchester, was jailed for two years and eight months at Caernarfon Crown Court today (March 19), having admitted possession of heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply, and possession of cannabis and a bladed article.

Prosecutor Laura Knightly said that, at 4.40pm on February 19, a plain-clothes policeman in Bangor saw a suspected drug user “acting suspiciously” and “clearly waiting for someone to turn up”.

Shortly after, Kinney arrived in an Audi vehicle and made a transaction with the suspected drug user.

He was then apprehended after Kinney drove away, and was found to be in possession of drugs.

Kinney was later arrested, and in his car and on his person, police found snap bags of heroin and crack cocaine, the machete, a cannabis grinder, bank notes, and mobile phones.

The total value of the drugs, which he had taken to North Wales from Manchester, was estimated at £2,500.

Upon arrest, Kinney said: “Everything is mine in that car. I’ve been driving my girlfriend around in that car but it has nothing to do with her.”

Representing Kinney, who had no previous convictions, Alexa Carrier asked the court to acknowledge the “full and frank disclosures” he made to police.

Ms Carrier added that Kinney was “working alone” and is “very remorseful”.

She said there was “no chain for him to have any influence over”, and that his offending lasted for a “very short-lived period”.

Kinney, she added, does not take drugs himself, comes from a “deprived background”, and was supported in court today by his partner.

Sentencing, Judge Nicola Jones said regarding Kinney’s claim that the machete was for cutting meat: “I think that’s highly unlikely.”

But she acknowledged that he “took all the blame on yourself without implicating anyone else”.

Judge Jones told him: “Don’t let this sentence break you. It’s your first offence. Hopefully, you can turn things around when you get out.”

The phones, drugs, machete and drug paraphernalia were ordered to be forfeited and destroyed, while a deprivation order was made in respect of the seized cash.