He has been jailed after being ‘given a chance by the court’ but threw it away ‘within weeks’
A drug dealer started selling cocaine on the streets after needing some quick money to buy his own drugs in a “misguided attempt” to lessen the serious pain that he was suffering after breaking his shoulder. But he was caught red-handed by eagle-eyed police officers as he met drugs customers for furtive exchanges near his home.
He threw away a chance to avoid prison after being given a suspended prison sentence early this year, Hull Crown Court heard. Houmayoun Mahmoudi, 35, of Cranbourne Street, west Hull, but recently in custody on remand, admitted supplying cocaine, being concerned in supplying cocaine, possessing crack cocaine and possessing cash as criminal property on May 20.
Holly Clegg, prosecuting, said that plainclothes police spotted Mahmoudi meeting a man and a woman in Albany Street before going into a house in Cranbourne Street while the two others waited nearby. The woman was seen checking something in her hands as she walked away.
Mahmoudi went back inside the house before going back out again and loitering around the junction of Cranbourne Street and Albany Street. He had a hand-to-hand exchange with a man before going back to the house.
Mahmoudi was arrested and searched. He was found with a mobile phone and £175 cash. The house was searched and £675 cash was found in a bedroom.
Crack cocaine, weighing just over 2g and with an 84 per cent purity, was found in 11 plastic knotted packages. There were two packages of crack cocaine.
In a car outside was £12,100 cash in an envelope. Mahmoudi had been given an 18-week suspended prison sentence in February this year for possessing cannabis with intent to supply in March 2023 and he was in breach of that.
Ben Hammersley, mitigating, said that Mahmoudi fell into drug use after breaking his shoulder and using drugs in a misguided attempt to manage his pain. “A friend offered him the opportunity to earn money,” said Mr Hammersley.
“He would wish to apologise for his involvement in drug dealing.” Mahmoudi had been in custody since the end of May. “He is clean of drugs now,” said Mr Hammersley.
Mahmoudi, from Iran, had been in this country since November 2019. His claim as an asylum seeker had been rejected by the Home Office. “He knows that he faces likely deportation,” said Mr Hammersley.
Recorder Helen Chapman told Mahmoudi: “You had been given a chance by the court and you threw that chance away within weeks.”
Mahmoudi was jailed for two years and four months, with a consecutive 18 weeks for breaching the suspended sentence.
The £175 cash seized will be forfeited and given to the St Paul’s boxing club, Hull.
