Milford bricklayer Louie Lunn jailed for 33 months at Southampton Crown Court for drug trafficking
A MILFORD bricklayer was caught drug-trafficking when border officers intercepted more than £14,000 of cannabis addressed to his home.
Louie Lunn, who has been jailed for 33 months, was subsequently discovered to also be a local cocaine dealer, Southampton Crown Court heard.
On 23rd May 2020, a border officer at the International Logistic Centre in Berkshire discovered 417g of cannabis in a package addressed to the 24-year-old by name and listing his De La Warr home address, prosecutor Emily Lanham said.
"It was found to contain just shy of half a kilo – which had a £4,000 wholesale value and a street value of between £7,140 and £14,380," she explained.
On 10th June police searched Lunn’s home and discovered 10g of cocaine with a street value of £1,000.
They also found a small amount of cannabis, and phones which showed evidence of drug-dealing "over a long period of time" with deal and debt lists, Ms Lanham said.
In a police interview Lunn told officers he had been "a f***ing idiot", since he earned £1,250 a month but had a cocaine addiction that got him into debt.
Analysis of his bank account showed money being transferred to Lunn by known local drug-dealers, the prosecutor added.
Lunn, who has previous convictions for drug use, had denied charges of fraudulent evasion by bringing into the UK an illegal drug, and possessing class A drugs with intent to supply.
He later twice offered guilty pleas to the prosecution on a certain basis. But both efforts were rejected, and he later admitted both matters.
Defending, Andrew Stone acknowledged an immediate prison term was the only available option to the court but asked it be kept as short as possible.
Lunn had kept out of trouble since the offending and started a relationship with a mother-of-three, he said.
She was pregnant with her fourth child – Lunn’s first – and had been due to give birth two days before the sentencing hearing, but was late, Mr Stone said.
He explained his client had worked for Screwfix for years before switching to being a self-employed bricklayer, and had now weaned himself off drugs and was debt free.
"That’s how he wants to divert his energies but I’m afraid he decided in the past to divert some into drug-dealing and he was motivated, as people normally are in these types of cases, because they are suffering addiction problems themselves and have run up a debt.
"Your honour will not be surprised that is exactly what happened to Mr Lunn – he ran up a drug debt because he had a cocaine addiction."
After Judge Nicholas Rowland announced the sentence, Lunn and members of his family called out they loved each other, before he was led away.
