University student spared jail after being caught with drugs worth £750 at nature reserve

A university student caught with more than £750 worth of Class A, B and C drugs has avoided being locked up.
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Vito Gueli-Parkin, 20, said that he had the drugs for his personal use and to deal to close friends only, Leeds Crown Court was told.

Joseph Bell, prosecuting, said police had been patrolling on March 21 last year when they came across two parked cars at Walton Colliery Nature Reserve.

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One of the vehicles was empty, but the other - a Seat Ibiza belonging to Gueli-Parkin - contained four males.

Leeds Crown CourtLeeds Crown Court
Leeds Crown Court

When the patrol car pulled alongside, the four males got out and the officers could smell cannabis.

Gueli-Parkin had a silver bag containing a quantity of cannabis, and during a search of the vehicle, more cannabis, a cannabis grinder and rolled joints were found.

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When asked if he was dealing drugs, he told the officers he would sell some to close pals but was not a dealer.

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After his arrest, police searched his home on Hill Top Road, Newmillerdam, and at the back of the wardrobe in his bedroom found a bag containing 379 diazepam tablets and 47 tablets with a Batman logo printed on them.

They turned out to be 2C-B tablets, a Class A, powerful hallucinogenic designer drug.

Along with the cannabis, the total street value of the drugs found was £754.

He admitted three charges of possession with an intent to supply.

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The court was told that Gueli-Parkin had no previous convictions.

"He is a university student struggling to finish his dissertation in his final year."

Judge Neil Clark accepted that he was only intending to sell to his friends after his mobile phone showed only drug-related messages to people that he knew.

He said: "You are not a sophisticated dealer but you were supplying to people you knew.

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"Class A drugs wreck people's life and the courts take it very seriously.

"You have a future, and you almost threw it away."

Gueli-Parkin was given two-year sentence, suspended for two years, plus 180 hours of unpaid work.

He was also ordered to complete 50 rehabilitation activity requirement days