A MAN who was caught red-handed with more than £1.7m worth of cannabis resin saw his jail sentence slashed by top judges at the Court of Appeal.
Trevor Dines, 54, of Hollybank Road, Rastrick, Brighouse, was jailed for four years at Bradford Crown Court in February after admitting conspiracy to supply the drug.
But yesterday, after an appeal by his lawyers, three top judges in London agreed that the sentence was “manifestly excessive” and cut it to three years.
Judge Michael Stokes QC told the court how Dines was caught as he helped a more serious drugs criminal weigh the drugs in a storage container in Brighouse in April 2008.
Inside, police found more than 2,500 blocks of cannabis resin, weighing a total of 590 kilos and with a potential street value of more than £1.7m.
Pleading guilty, he said he had been enlisted to help in the moving of the drugs after being offered £100.
He also wanted the drugs removed so that he could use the container for his own property, he said.
Before going inside, he had no idea about the quantity held and, other than that, he had had no involvement in drugs supply at all, he said.
His lawyers were at the Court of Appeal in London, where they argued before Judge Stokes, Lord Justice Leveson and Mr Justice Roderick Evans that the sentence was too long.
The crown court judge had not taken sufficient account of the factual basis on which he had pleaded guilty, the three judges were told.
Giving the judgement, Judge Stokes said: “If the Crown accepts a basis of plea, then it is important that the defendant is sentenced on that basis of plea.
“We have concluded, not without some hesitation given the vast amount of cannabis with which this offender had become concerned, that four years is manifestly excessive.
“We substitute a sentence of three years.”
