Yahoo News Drug dealer used his flat as cocaine and crack base after falling behind on the rent
A drug dealer who used his flat as 'a base for storing wholesale quantities of cocaine and crack cocaine' after falling behind on the rent has been jailed. Mark Draper, 34, was caught with nearly £100,000 of Class A drugs in his flat.
At a previous hearing in 2017, he fled from a court moments before he was due to be sentenced for drugs offences, but is now back behind bars.
The same court heard he turned his flat into a base for breaking down and repackaging cocaine and crack cocaine after suffering from rent arrears. He and his accomplice, Dylan Hyams, were linked to the operation after their fingerprints were found on blocks of illicit substances.
Liverpool Crown Court heard Merseyside Police executed a search warrant at his flat on Belem Close in Aigburth on January 10 2022. No one was found inside after officers forced entry to the property, but they seized a quantity of cocaine worth up to £90,000 and £5,500 of crack cocaine from a Footasylum bag in the bedroom.
James Coutts, prosecuting, described how around £1,600 in cash was also recovered from the address, as was a "large empty package with remnants of white powder". This was said to have been "consistent with a kilogram deal being subdivided" into the three separate blocks of cocaine discovered within the apartment.
One of these, weighing half a kilo, was found with Hyams' DNA on it. Another quarter-kilogram parcel contained Draper's DNA.
Hyams, of no fixed address, has 19 previous convictions for 29 offences, including receiving 10 years in 2016 for robbery, reports The Echo.
The now 31-year-old was released from this sentence on licence in April 2021, then was handed a further four years in February 2022 for conspiracy to commit burglary. This came after Hyams, then of Leadenhall Close in Everton, and a gang of criminals travelled to Yorkshire to raid a family home and steal sentimental heirlooms.
Anthony O'Donohoe, appearing on his behalf, told the court during his latest appearance: "The property was not his. There was nothing linking him to the matter, other than his fingerprints. Could we really say anything more than he has a role being involved, at some point, in some way, in the packaging of the cocaine? He says he was a regular visitor to that property.
"His previous convictions do not shed him in a good light, but there are no drug trafficking convictions on his record. He has a partner who is standing by him, and they have a son together. He tells me that he has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. His physical health is good, and he wants to embrace his inevitable time in custody as positively as he can."
Draper's criminal record meanwhile shows 13 offences for 16 charges. The 34-year-old, of Darnley Street in Dingle, was last before the courts in 2021 when a community order was imposed upon him for possession of an offensive weapon and possession of cannabis.
Eve Salter, defending, said: "Mr Draper has asserted that the reason he found himself in this position was that he found himself in financial difficulties. He was not working, having just come out of hospital. He has sustained an injury to his wrist and was signed off as not fit to work. He ended up in financial difficulty and became involved in the commission of this offence.
"There is no evidence of him living beyond his means. The defendant accepts that what he has done is wrong." Hyams was found guilty of being concerned in the supply of cocaine by a jury following a trial but cleared of being concerned in the supply of crack cocaine. Appearing via video link to HMP Altcourse, he was jailed for six-and-a-half years.
Draper admitted possession of crack cocaine and cocaine with intent to supply and possession of cannabis. He was handed four years and four months behind bars.
Sentencing, Recorder Kendrick Horne said: "Mark Draper, you used your flat as a base for storing wholesale quantities of cocaine and crack cocaine and breaking them down for onward distribution. Dylan Hyams, your DNA was found on a half-kilogram cocaine package.
"The jury rejected your explanation as to how that came to be there. They must have been sure that you were actively involved in the repackaging. Both of you expected to make significant amounts of money. Mark Draper, you intended to pay off some or all of your rental arrears, totalling thousands of pounds. There is no evidence that either of you were funding a lavish lifestyle. I am sure, however, that both of you were actively involved in putting quantities of drugs into bags."
