Drug dealer with stun gun jailed for five years
A drug dealer, who kept a stun gun disguised as a torch hidden in his bedroom, has been jailed for five years.
Police found the weapon together with £1,200 worth of cannabis bagged up ready for sale when they swooped on the home of Stefan Gregg and his partner Michelle Hirst, a judge heard.
Officers also found Nunchucks and a BB gun together with a mobile phone, which had been used by 27-year-old Gregg to advertise the sale of ‘high grade California Orange cannabis,’ Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.
The advert was specifically targeted at a handful of individuals and Mr Mark Phillips, prosecuting, revealed: “There was a lot of evidence of his dealing. It was being run as a profitable business but did not involve a very wide group of people.”
Hirst was wrapping up the cannabis into street deals when police raided the couple’s home in Haywharf Road, Pensnett, in 2016 but the mother of two played a minor role in the operation, it was said.
Gregg, who admitted lying to police, pleaded guilty to being in possession of a disguised firearm but insisted he thought it was a torch and not a weapon when making the purchase at a car boot sale around six months before the search.
The defendant said he wanted it to read the electricity meter in the dark but never used it because they switched to a smart meter. It transpired he already had a torch for night fishing and had told police in an interview that there were several more in the house. The prosecutor maintained: “You bought the disguised firearm because you are a man with a fascination for weapons.”
The torch worked but the Chinese-made Taser-style stun gun did not when tested by a weapons expert. Mr Phillips conceded: “We cannot say with certainty that it was ever capable of being fired.”
Judge Barry Berlin ruled: “The Nunchucks, BB gun and stun gun fit in with the pattern of a drug dealer seeking to protect himself.”
Gregg, who also admitted possession of cannabis with intent to supply, was jailed for a total of five years. Hirst was given a three month prison term suspended for two years with 100 hours after pleading guilty to the same offence.
