Men in court over drug supply offences take differing paths

Samuel Molloy, 19, and Sonny Weir, 20, received deferred sentences from Judge Stephen Climie at Bournemouth Crown Court in March last year.

Molloy pleaded guilty on a basis to two counts of being concerned in making an offer to supply a drug of class A and a further charge relating to a class B drug.

Weir pleaded guilty to a single count of being concerned in making an offer to supply a drug of class B.

The offences related to when the defendants were stopped and searched by police at Bournemouth Railway Station on October 27, 2020.

Bournemouth train station

Officers found five phones, including three burner phones, and £500 in cash. Forty-six pages worth of messages were recovered from Molloy's phones. In Weir's case there was evidence of cannabis supply throughout October.

The sentencing was pushed back in the autumn and the defendants were back before the court on April 7.

Molloy, previously of Stourvale Road, Bournemouth, appeared in the dock in person, while Weir appeared via video link from prison.

The court heard Weir, of Pope Walk, Banbury, was due to be sentenced for a raft of serious offences, including administering a noxious substance with intent, false imprisonment and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

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These offences related to an incident in Banbury, Oxfordshire, in which Weir was part of a group drug-fuelled teens who subjected a young woman to bullying torture.

Judge Climie said Weir would be sentenced for the Bournemouth drug offence by the judge presiding over the Oxford Crown Court case at a hearing later this month. He is expected to receive a lengthy custodial sentence.

He continued with the sentencing of Molloy after barrister John Dyer provided an update on the progress the defendant had made.

Mr Dyer said his client had done “exceedingly well” over the past year, securing two As and a B in his A-Levels at a time when he was sleeping rough.

Molloy had been in work since September and held aspirations to go to university in the future, the court heard.

Mr Dyer asked Judge Climie to consider a community order to limit the potential impact the sentence would have on the defendant’s future prospects.

However, Judge Climie said he would impose a suspended sentence, with the offence crossing the custody threshold.

“It is one of those scars on his character which he will have to carry in employment terms for some time,” said the judge.

Molloy was sentenced to 16 months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, with unpaid work and overnight curfew requirements.

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