Man with drugs jumped in harbour to avoid police

Daniel Edward Steer, 40, of no fixed address, admitted two drug possession charges and obstructing a police officer in the due execution of his duty.

The court heard that at about 8pm one evening, police officers in Town were conducting enquiries relating to the welfare of a woman, when they had reason to speak to the defendant on the Albert Pier. An officer thought that he looked anxious and was reluctant to engage.

Steer moved away and began rummaging in a jacket pocket before jumping off the pier into the sea.

The officer saw him swimming towards his backpack, but when he threw a safety line towards him, Steer just pushed it away. The defendant threw items from his back pack into the water and while some were recovered, others were not. A small boat had to be used to remove the defendant from the water.

The backpack was found to contain one tablet of the class A substance oxycodone and 0.69g of class B cannabis.

Steer had numerous previous convictions, including for drug possession in 2012 and drug possession and obstructing police in 2021.

Defending, Advocate Samuel Steel said his client wanted to go to prison and would not undertake any other form of punishment. He had been struggling with his mental health and hoped he would get help in prison. He had nowhere to live and he felt his current situation was hopeless.

Judge Gary Perry said he appreciated the defendant’s difficult situation but said he had a poor record.

Steer was jailed for four months for the class A drug offence, one month concurrent for the cannabis possession, and two months, consecutive, for the obstruction offence, a total of six months.

Steer told the court that he had only been expecting to get six weeks. Judge Perry said he could always appeal the court’s decision.