Ben Rowe's client receives Community Order for drug supply offence.

Ben's young client received an 18 month community order following a guilty plea to being concerned in the supply of 150g of crack cocaine. Ben was instructed by Dev Jummoodoo of Rosewood Solicitors. Ben and Dev worked with their client over several months to help him open up and explain his involvement in the offence. The teenage defendant eventually revealed that he had been pressured into assisting a gang of drug dealers after building up a debt with them while homeless following his mother's death. Ben drafted a Basis of Plea setting out the client's side of what happened, which was accepted by the prosecution without calling evidence.

In a sentencing hearing at Winchester Crown Court, Ben was able to demonstrate to the sentencing Judge that his client had a real chance of turning his life around with probation support, and that he was sorry for his actions. The prosecution had placed the offence within the "significant role" in the sentencing guidelines, but Ben was able to persuade the Judge that the young defendant had played a "lesser role", attracting a substantially lower sentence. As well as the community punishment, the Judge ordered the defendant to complete 35 days of rehabilitation activities with probation, and 200 hours of unpaid work.