A DRUG dealer who was on licence from a life sentence for a knifepoint robbery is back behind bars.
Desmond Bernard, 42, of Millers Dale Close, Rugby, pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to possessing heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply.
He was jailed for three years – but whether he will be freed after serving that will depend on the prison authorities, who have recalled him for breaching his licence.
Prosecutor Ben Close said that at 9am on August 7 last year the police had reason to go to Bernard’s girlfriend’s Rugby home.
On the drive was a car which had been hired by Bernard, inside which officers found wraps of heroin and crack cocaine, as well as £20 in cash and two phones.
Bernard, who claimed the five wraps were for personal use, was arrested.
In his flat in Millers Dale Close, officers found heroin worth £630 which was ready to be broken down into individual deals, and two further wraps of crack cocaine.
“It was clear the kitchen was being used to mix drugs for sale,” said Mr Close, who pointed out that the phones had text messages on them which related to the supply of drugs.
But Bernard continued to maintain that he purchased and used drugs but never sold them.
Mr Close added that Bernard had a number of previous convictions for offences of dishonesty and violence, and in 2000 had been jailed for life, with a minimum term of five years, for robbery.
That followed an incident when Bernard assaulted, tied up and robbed the boss of an amusement arcade in Small Heath, Birmingham, at knifepoint before escaping in his victim’s car with more than £1,800 in cash.
Gerard Cullen, defending, said Bernard had originally been granted bail on the drugs charges, but was recalled to prison following his first appearance in court in November.
So the time he had spent in custody since then would not count towards his sentence for the drugs offences.
Bernard had actually served seven years before being released on licence, and no decision has been made on how long he will now be detained before he is next considered for release.
Mr Cullen added that, save for a driving matter in 2012, Bernard had not been in trouble for nine years following his release – until his arrest over the drugs.
Jailing Bernard, Recorder Nigel Daly told him: “It seems you, when you were younger, were involved in some very serious crime which eventually meant you were sent to prison for life.
“You had been released on licence from that when you committed these offences. I understand you did this to get money when things were very difficult.”
