A heartbreaker drug dealer who lived with his girlfriend but got a female admirer to store drugs at her home has been jailed for almost six years.

Khia Yearwood-May, originally from Luton, already had two previous convictions for selling heroin and crack cocaine – making him a ‘third strike’ dealer and subject to a mandatory minimum sentence.

The 26-year-old was said to have got work as a delivery driver after his last jail sentence, but lost the job with employers Appliances Direct after arguing with his colleagues.

He then ‘fell into the old habit of committing crime, which he’s extremely ashamed of,’ his barrister Elizabeth Lambert told Oxford Crown Court.

Oxford Mail:

Khia Yearwood-May's custody shot Picture: THAMES VALLEY POLICE

Prosecutor Shannon Revel said Yearwood-May was behind the wheel of a Ford Focus on January 10, 2020, that attracted the attention of the police.

The officers recognised the well-known dealer and followed him as he pulled into St Clements car park, a hotspot for drug dealing.

After watching a suspected addict get out the back of the car the police officers pounced.

Yearwood-May was visibly nervous and left a ‘burner phone’ on his car seat, which was continually ringing and later found to contain bulk text messages advertising hard drugs.

His front-seat passenger, Georgia Whipp, 24, had stashed a Kinder egg in her waistband that contained 28 wraps of heroin and crack cocaine. She also had £70 in cash and, at her home, empty Kinder egg tubs. Messages on her phone pointed to her storing drugs at the house.

 

Georgia Whipp outside Oxford Crown Court

Georgia Whipp outside Oxford Crown Court

 

Whipp outside Oxford Crown Court

Yearwood-May, of Benson Close, Luton, and Whipp, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply class A drugs. The man also admitted possession of cannabis.

Ms Lambert, for Yearwood-May, said her client accepted there were no exceptional circumstances that meant it would be unjust for the judge to impose the mandatory minimum sentence of seven years. Her client had pleaded guilty at an early stage and was eligible for a 20 per cent reduction on his sentence.

Peter du Feu, for Whipp, suggested she had been interested romantically in her co-defendant. It ‘beggared belief’ that she still harboured hopes that they would get together, although he said those may have gone when she learned Yearwood-May had been living with another woman.

Whipp had been acting under his direction and had no expectation of any reward. She had no previous convictions, had found her 18 days on remand at Eastwood Park prison very difficult and had spent the last 538 days on a curfew.

Recorder Michael Roques sentenced Yearwood-May to 2,045 days – or five years and seven months. He said he would take an ‘exceptional course’ and imposed a three year community order on Whipp, with requirements to complete a 12 week curfew, 200 hours of unpaid work and 16 rehabilitation days.

The drugs, burner phone and cash were forfeit and the Ford Focus seized.

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