‘Enjoy your freedom – you won’t get another chance’

Wesley Guilbert, 44, admitted two counts of supplying MDMA to others, possessing class A drugs MDMA and morphine, possessing Class B cannabis resin and offering to supply cannabis.

In total he was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for three years, and a three-year probation order when he was sentenced in the Royal Court.

Judge Catherine Fooks said that Guilbert had a high likelihood of reoffending, but had the qualities to turn his life around.

‘Here is your chance – your one and only chance – to enjoy your freedom, because if you do not make the correct choices you should expect to spend a very long time in prison,’ she said.

‘You must grasp this chance with both hands. It it easy to say but harder to do.’

The defendant had been given a nine-year prison sentence for the manufacture of a class A drug in 2014.

References before the court included from Guilbert’s mother and daughter, both of whom said he was adored as both a father and grandfather, and spoke of the impact a prison term would have on his family.

His mother referred to his traumatic youth and how he had suffered mental health difficulties.

Prosecuting, Advocate Liam Roffey told the court that the offences had all come to light following a police search of Guilbert’s flat in June 2023.

‘I’ll show you where the stuff is,’ Guilbert told the officers, and pointed them towards the drugs in his flat.

This included 21.11g of MDMA in the form of broken tablets, plus just over 8.55g of cannabis and cannabis resin, and 1.44g of morphine.

He was arrested on suspicion of possessing controlled drugs, but was so co-operative that officers did not feel it necessary to handcuff him.

Cash amounting to £850 and a mobile phone were also seized and on examination of the phone, messages were found suggesting the supply of a total of seven tablets of MDMA between two individuals, and the offer to supply cannabis.

Guilbert said that the money had come from his job as a barman, for which he was paid cash, since due to his criminal record he had been unable to have a bank account.

The defendant had a prescription for medical cannabis but the amount involved in the charge did not include this.

He said all the drugs were for personal use, including the MDMA, and he took between five and six tablets three times a week.

It was being kept for his birthday when he intended to have ‘one last pop’ since he was getting too old, he said.

Advocate Samuel Steel, defending, said that although the MDMA found was broken tablets, it probably amounted to about 84 tablets, or about six weeks’ supply at the rate Guilbert used the drug.

He had bought the cannabis resin to ‘top up’ his medicinal prescription.

He highlighted Guilbert’s co-operation with the police at the time of the search and said that he had admitted all the offences at the first opportunity.

Advocate Steel said that over the last year his client had distanced himself from people involved with drugs. He had said that drugs had ruined his life and he wanted to leave them behind.

Judge Fooks approved the forfeiture and destruction of the drugs, and Guilbert had already voluntarily forfeited the cash.