A STUDENT caught dealing drugs in an Aberystwyth nightclub nearly four years ago has avoided jail.

Swansea Crown Court heard how on 23 February 2019, Maajid Shah was found in a cubicle of the Pier Pressure nightclub with five wraps of cocaine after security staff became suspicious of two men.

Shah was arrested and when officers went to his halls of residence room, they found Jamal Berry-Parkes and £1,627 in cash.

A search of the room found 80 wraps of cocaine hidden inside a sock but while the officers were searching the room Berry-Parkes fled in an incident the judge called “almost comedic”.

Both defendants subsequently denied any knowledge of the drug-filled sock.

Shah, now aged 24, of Stratford Road, Hall Green, Birmingham, and 23-year-old Berry-Parkes of Selsdon Close, Wythall, West Midlands, had both previously been convicted at trial of possession of cocaine with intent to supply in regards to the drugs found in the room when they appeared in the dock for sentencing.

Shah had previously pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to supply in regard to the wraps he had in the club toilet. Neither defendant has any previous convictions.

Karl Volz, for Shah, said the defendant had been an “extremely heavy user” of drugs at the time of his offending but was now drug-free, aware of the devastating consequences of addiction, and was helping others with addictions.

Ian Wright, for Berry-Parkes, said the fourth anniversary of the defendant’s arrest was now just weeks away and, while the Covid pandemic had played its part, the delay in the matter coming to be sentenced was “extraordinary”.

He said though his client accepted the verdict of the jury he maintained the stance he held at trial.

The barrister said Berry-Parkes had been aged 19 at the time of the offending and since then there had been an “utter transformation in his life” and he was now studying for a Higher National Certificate in building services engineering with a view to going to university.

Recorder Neil Owen-Casey noted that in their respective pre-sentence reports Shah had been candid about his role in supplying drugs to other students while Berry-Parkes had maintained he had played no part in the enterprise.

He said it seemed the two defendants had met by chance in Aberystwyth and while it was clear Shah had been desperate to fund his own habit – and to that extent had been vulnerable – Berry-Parkes was the “facilitator” who found a “ready market” for drugs in the town.

Berry-Parkes was sentenced to three years in prison.

He will serve up to half the period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.

Shah was sentenced to two years in prison suspended for two years and was ordered to complete 240 hours of unpaid work.