mugzy
TID Board Of Directors
- Aug 11, 2010
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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.
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."
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.
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."
