Meadows man who hid gun at his mum's home back behind bars for drug dealing
A Nottingham drug dealer, who once stashed a gun and ammunition at his mum’s house, carried on selling after being caught and bailed months earlier with heroin, cocaine and cannabis. Nottingham Crown Court heard how Sean Hopps was forced to sell the illegal substances due to a debt he had incurred smoking cannabis, the same reason he hid the firearm in the earlier case.
The now 27-year-old was first captured in May 2023 with all three drugs and then a second time with cannabis when police went to his family home in The Meadows three months later. On that occasion his mother and brother were also arrested and charged but have since had cases against them dropped.
Jailing Hopps for three years and four months, Recorder Robert Ward said: “In relation to the heroin and cocaine there was an expectation of significant financial advantage but I am willing to accept you were the subject of a drug debt and were therefore coerced into carrying on dealing. In non-legal speak, you were under pressure.”
READ MORE: Nottinghamshire nurse raped junior colleague and tried to cover it up
READ MORE: Mum caught trying to smuggle cannabis into HMP Lowdham Grange but denies it was for murderer
In March, 2022, Hopps was handed a five-year jail sentence after admitting possession of the firearm, a converted starting pistol, in 2020. Having been released early from that police forced entry at his family home in Orange Gardens in the early hours of May 4, 2023, prosecutor Almas Ben-Aribia said.
She said the defendant’s mother arrived home 15 minutes later and Hopps arrived on a bicycle a short while after that. The prosecutor said: “A search revealed heroin, cocaine, cannabis and £440 in cash.
“There were a number of wraps of white rock and brown powder and mobile phones were recovered. On them were messages which clearly related to the selling of both class A and class B drugs.
“The messages also spoke about credit and ‘runners’. Another search of the address on August 24, when the defendant was present, found scales in a cupboard from under the stairs, another phone and plastic bags of cannabis on the defendant's bed. He had continued to involve himself in drug supply following his first arrest.”
Hopp pleaded guilty to supplying all three drugs. He is currently in custody serving the remainder of the 2022 firearms offence and so the new sentence has been added to that.
Sue Rodham, mitigating, said her client had pleaded guilty to the earliest opportunity and should therefore be afforded maximum credit.
She said: “This is a young man who was 25 at the time and who comes from The Meadows area of Nottingham where it is very difficult to avoid other people. He was released in 2023, there was an alleged drug debt and he was put under pressure from others.
“His partner attends court today and he is in the process of moving out of the area with her. She works and she has been a good influence on him.” A Proceeds of Crime Act hearing, which could see Hopps stripped of any cash and assets, will take place later this year.