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Natural Bodybuilding, Figure and Fitness
News
Bodybuilders who dealt steroids spared jail
TWO
competitive bodybuilders who sold steroids to gym pals
have been spared jail.
Martin Fannan and Martin Flett were arrested when
police received an anonymous tip-off claiming their
pal and fellow gym user, custody sergeant Darren
Towers, was dealing the Class C drugs.
Anabolic steroids were found during searches at the
homes of all three men.
They were arrested, and Fannan, who works as a
doorman, and Flett, a teacher, admitted they would
share steroids among bodybuilding pals.
They both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply Class
C drugs.
Sergeant
Towers, a custody officer at Gill Bridge police
station in Sunderland, admitted using steroids but
denied dealing.
The 41-year-old, from Jarrow, was found not guilty of
conspiracy to supply steroids and misconduct in public
office by a jury last month.
At Newcastle Crown Court yesterday, prosecutor Alex
Menary told the court that four of the 10 packages
seized from Fannan's home in Horden, County Durham,
contained anabolic steroids. |
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Six of
the 14 packages seized from Flett's Jarrow home also
contained the Class C drug.
The rest of the items seized from the men contained
proteins and other powders, which were legal and
frequently used by bodybuilders.
Mr Menary said the men would buy and sell the drugs
with just a small circle of like-minded friends.
He told the court: "The offers to supply were on a
bulk basis, effectively they were trying to save on
packaging costs by ordering on behalf of each other
and supplying each other with items they had no longer
any use for.
"The Crown accepts this was not a profit-making
operation, it was at cost basis."
Stephen Constanine, defending Fannan, said the case
against Fannan and Flett would have been unlikely to
get to court had Sergeant Towers not been involved.
Mr Constantine said: "But for the involvement of a
police officer, at best they would have been
cautioned."
He said that Fannan, a "decent, honest and
hard-working" doorman, who has been bodybuilding since
the age of 15, could lose his job as a result of his
conviction.
Kieran Rainey, also defending, said Flett has shown
enormous potential in his teaching career and coaches
rugby to youngsters.
Mr Rainey handed in a stack of hand-written references
to Flett's previous good character.
Neither Fannan or Flett has been in trouble with the
police before.
Judge Micheal Cartlidge sentenced them both to a
conditional discharge for two years with £200 costs
each.
The judge said; "This was low-level supplying anabolic
steroids to fellow bodybuilders.
Source -
www.jarrowandhebburngazette.com
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