Donegal jockey avoids jail over €11k drugs haul

A budding Donegal jockey has avoided prison after being found with over €11,000 worth of drugs.

Gardai found a large cache of cannabis and cocaine when they raided the home of Oran Brown.

Brown, who is now 22, was handed a three-and-a-half-year sentence, which was suspended by Judge John Aylmer for a three-and-a-half-year period.

Brown was on crutches when he appeared at Letterkenny Circuit Court with his barrister informing the court that he sustained an injury last week. Mr Peter Nolan BL, representing Brown, said his client was due to ride at Cheltenham this week and is based in England, where he works for renowned trainer Richard Hannon.

Detective Garda Michelle Kelly told Ms Fiona Crawford BL, counsel for the State, that a search warrant was obtained, following a confidential tip-off, to carry out a search of Brown’s residence at Coolatee, Lifford on June 25, 2020.

Gardai pounced at around 12.30pm and the accused man was a front seat passenger in a vehicle parked outside the property. Brown came into the house and told gardai that there were controlled drugs inside.

Detective Garda Kelly said officers detected a strong smell of cannabis from a room and a large quantity of drugs was found in several locations in the house.

In total, detectives seized €8,668 worth of cannabis and cocaine with a street value of €2,504.81. Some of the cannabis was found in deal bags. A Zopiclone tablet, valued at €2, was also located in the raid.

The drugs had a combined total of €11,174.81.

A grinder, weighing scales and a quantity of Ziploc bags were also found. Quantities of Diazepam and Xanax were found in a Tommy Hilfiger bag in the property while gardai observed a line of suspected cocaine on top of a dresser.

A quantity of cocaine was found inside a safe, which also contained €7,225 and £2,480 sterling in cash. Brown was searched and a cylinder containing cannabis and a grinder was located on his person. Brown was arrested and taken to Letterkenny garda station.

Barrister Mr Peter Nolan. (North West Newspix)

Brown told gardai that he was living with his grandparents since the previous Christmas and was working with a company in Strabane.

He outlined that he ‘smoked a lot of weed and sniffed cocaine’.

“I won’t lie, I sold a few bags of weed too,” Brown told detectives. Regarding the cash, Brown said he was given money by his parents and grandparents for his birthday the previous month.

Brown refused to give gardai the PIN for his mobile phone as he said there was ‘stuff on the phone’ that he didn’t want them to see. Detective Garda Kelly said gardai were unable to access data from the phone as the PIN was not provided.

Barrister for Brown, Mr Peter Nolan BL, said that his client was accepted as an apprentice jockey but ‘weight got the better of him’.

“He and others began taking cocaine to keep the weight stabilised,” Mr Nolan said, adding that British Horseracing now has regular drug testing procedures in place.

The court heard that Brown works in England and was described as a ‘conditional apprentice’. Mr Nolan said Brown is now riding under national hunt rules, which have a higher weight limit for jockeys.

Mr Nolan said Brown had ‘great hopes and ambitions’ to be a flat racing jockey. Having not been successful as an apprentice, he returned to Donegal six months before this offence and obtained a job as a joiner.

“He became involved in cocaine and that has brought him to the position that he is in,” Mr Nolan said.

Brown, who was accompanied to court by his mother, had no previous convictions and has not come to adverse attention since.

A probation and welfare report deemed Brown as a low risk of reoffending and said the incident had brought ‘deep remorse and shame’.

References were handed in on Brown’s behalf from Fr Colm O’Doherty, the Parish Priest in Lifford, and the Gifford-Based Naomh Padraig GAA club.

Asking the court to be as lenient as possible and to consider a non-custodial sentence, Mr Nolan said his client has ‘learned a serious lesson’.

“Stupidity led him to these circumstances,” Mr Nolan said.

Judge John Aylmer said the value of the drugs stash found in Brown’s home was only slightly below the €13,000 threshold which carries a mandatory minimum sentence.

Judge Aylmer said a starting point for the possession of cannabis for the purpose of selling or supplying was five years in prison.

“It was clear from all the paraphernalia found on the premises that there was a significant amount of dealing going on,” Judge Aylmer said. A two-year prison sentence was the starting point for sentencing on the charge of the unlawful possession of cocaine.

Judge John Aylmer. (North West Newspix)

In mitigation, Judge Aylmer said Brown is a young man with no previous convictions who is ‘very positively’ engaged in horse racing. Brown showed gardai to various locations in the house where drugs were situated and followed with an early plea of guilty. He said Brown has now removed himself from ‘anti-social acquaintances’ and took note of the references submitted on the accused’s behalf.

Judge Aylmer reduced the sentence for the possession of cannabis for the purpose of selling or supplying to three-and-a-half years in prison. The entirety of the sentence was suspended for three-and-a-half years on Brown entering a bond to keep the peace and be of good behaviour for three-and-a-half years.

Brown was ordered to 240 hours of community service in lieu of 16 months in prison on the charge of unlawful possession of cocaine.

“This is an unusual case where he deserves a second chance,” Judge Aylmer said. “It is with some hesitation, but it is a case that it may be dealt with better on a non-custodial basis given all of the features. “