Megan Griffiths Invented a Dealer After a Cannabis Theft

Megan Griffiths invented a fictional dealer named Lee after £600 of cannabis was stolen, then a crown court sentenced her for supply. Police found 16 grams, three knives, and phone messages at her Newcastle-under-Lyme home on December 22, 2021. Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court imposed an 18-month community order in August 2024.

The Phone Was Supposed to Be Clean

Griffiths, 25, of Greenside, was in the house when officers arrived with a warrant. Prosecutor Howard Searle told the court she had been selling cannabis to a small group of people she already knew, on a low-level basis, and that she expected to make money from it.

She also told them the handset would not help. Searle said she claimed there would not be evidence on her phone as to dealing. The messages showed the opposite: low-level supply to associates, a stolen stash, and a made-up dealer used as a cover story.

She said there would not be evidence on her phone as to dealing. There was evidence of low-level dealing to a group of associates known to her. She created a fictional dealer. She had an expectation of financial advantage.

Howard Searle, prosecutor, Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court

She pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of cannabis and to possession of cannabis. The plea sat on a narrow basis: she was a low-level dealer to a small circle, the money was tied to funding her own habit, it was her own operation, and she did not involve anybody else.

Sixteen Grams Against a £600 Theft

The physical haul was small. Officers recovered 16 grams of cannabis, put at £80 to £130, plus a number of knives Searle called tools of the trade. The same file recorded that she had already lost £600 worth of the drug to theft, a hole several times larger than the street value of what was still in the house.

THE WEIGHTS THE COURT WAS ASKED TO HOLD

Scott Ashdown, mitigating, walked the judge through the blades rather than the bags. One knife was in a cupboard next to a washer, one was described as a flick knife, and one was described as a rambo knife. He accepted they were capable of being unlawful. The messages, he said, speak for themselves.

Lee Lived Only in the Chat Log

Lee never stood in the dock because Lee was not a person on Greenside. He was a character she built after the theft, a name that let her talk about missing cannabis without putting herself at the centre of the supply.

That is the move that turned a small personal stash into a dealing case. Sixteen grams in a drawer can be possession. A running story about a supplier, a stolen parcel, and a circle of associates is how Lee stopped being a shield. The cover story sat on the same phone she had said was clean, and it is the part of the file that made the supply charge hold.

Nothing in the hearing pointed to a chain above her, a shopfront, or anyone else taking a cut. The court accepted it was her own operation. The fiction was meant to hide that fact. It documented it instead.

Judge Maher Called It a Matter of Some Age

The warrant was executed on December 22, 2021. The sentence was reported on August 15, 2024. Judge Michael Maher told Griffiths she had no previous convictions and that this was a matter of some age, a polite way of saying the file had sat for two years and eight months before anyone passed sentence on it.

Those revised drug guidelines in force from April 2021 were already live when officers went through the house. The search came eight months after the new supply ranges took effect, so the delay was not waiting for a new rulebook. It was a first offence, a small seized weight, and a crown court diary that did not treat the case as urgent.

By the time she stood in the dock she was 25. The temptation Maher described was older than the hearing: she had started pushing cannabis to subsidise her own addiction to the drug.

What the Supply Guideline Does With Street Deals

Any supply of cannabis directly to users is treated as at least category 3 harm, even when the seized weight sits far below the indicative 100 grams for category 4. Quantity stops being the main marker once the drug is being sold to people who use it. Street dealing, including sales to a small circle of associates, is pulled up into that box.

Role is the other axis. A lesser role includes an expectation of limited financial advantage, including meeting the offender’s own habit. A significant role is carved out where the expected advantage is more than that, with an express save for people whose only gain is feeding a habit. Griffiths’ own basis of plea maps onto the lesser-role side of that line: she sold to people she knew, to fund her use, and she did not bring anyone else in.

CLASS B LESSER-ROLE STARTING POINTS

A high-level community order is the starting point in that lesser-role, category 3 square. The 18-month community order she received sits in that square. The court report never names the box out loud. The numbers in the room, the plea basis, and the order that came out of it line up with it anyway.

The Gateway Line on a First Offence

Maher still reached for a wider warning. He told her there tends to be a blase and cavalier attitude towards cannabis, then said it is a gateway drug to more serious drugs. He also said she appeared genuinely sorry for involving herself in illicit supply, and he did not send her to prison.

You have no previous convictions. This is a matter of some age. You were tempted to start pushing cannabis yourself to subsidise your own addiction to the drug. There tends to be a blase and cavalier attitude towards cannabis. Cannabis is a gateway drug to more serious drugs. You appear to be genuinely sorry for involving yourself in this illicit drug supply.

Michael Maher, judge, Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court

The lecture and the order pulled in different directions. The finding in the file was a first-time user who sold to fund a habit and then tried to hide it with a fake name. The finding in the remarks was that cannabis opens a door to something worse. The sentence that followed was rehab days and unpaid hours, not a cell.

Forty Rehab Days and Three Knives

The order was built around work and treatment, then around taking the kit out of the house. Maher imposed the 18-month community order with a rehabilitation activity requirement and unpaid work, and he made a deprivation order for the drugs, the phone, and the three knives.

WHAT THE ORDER REQUIRED

• The term: An 18-month community order instead of immediate custody.
• Rehab time: A rehabilitation activity requirement of 40 days.
• Unpaid work: 120 hours to be completed under the order.
• Deprivation: The cannabis, the phone that held the Lee messages, and the three knives all went.

Ashdown had already located one of those knives beside a washer. The other two were the flick knife and the rambo knife. Calling them tools of the trade made the search sound like a dealing pad. Putting one of them next to the laundry made it sound like a house. The deprivation order did not settle that argument. It just took all three out of circulation with the handset.

Lee left the story the same way he entered it, as text on a phone that no longer belongs to her. The character was invented to cover a stolen bag. The bag’s owner went to crown court with 16 grams, a first clean record, and a judge who called cannabis a gateway while handing her unpaid work.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Does Being Concerned in Cannabis Supply Mean?

It is an offence under section 4(3) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, grouped with supplying and offering to supply, and it is wider than a single hand-to-hand sale. The charge is triable either way. For Class B drugs the statutory maximum is 14 years’ custody, a ceiling that sits far above the community-order range used for a lesser-role street case.

Can Officers Charge Supply If They Only Find a Small Amount?

Yes. Messages showing sales to associates can support a supply charge even when the seized weight is 16 grams. For cannabis that is likely to be dealt with in a magistrates’ court, an experienced officer may identify the drug by appearance, texture and smell without a lab test if that identification is not in dispute, which is why a small bag plus a phone can be enough to put a supply file on its feet.

When Did the Current UK Cannabis Supply Guideline Take Effect?

The Sentencing Council issued the revised drug-offence guidelines on January 27, 2021, and they came into force on April 1, 2021, for offenders aged 18 and over sentenced on or after that date, regardless of when the offence itself was committed. Griffiths was searched later that December, so the 2021 ranges already applied to her file.

What Is the Difference Between Category 3 and Category 4 Cannabis Supply?

Category 4 uses an indicative 100 grams of cannabis. Category 3 uses 6 kilograms, or any case of selling directly to users, including street dealing. Once the supply is to users, the court is told to treat harm as at least category 3 and then adjust inside that box for the actual quantity, which is how a 16-gram street case is not sentenced as if it were a 100-gram weight marker alone.

Disclaimer: This article is news reporting and analysis of a concluded criminal case and of published sentencing guidance. It is informational only and does not constitute legal advice, nor does it offer any view on how a court would treat another person’s facts. Readers who face a drugs investigation or charge, or who are considering how a community order or a basis of plea might apply to them, should consult a qualified criminal solicitor or barrister before acting. Figures, charges and order terms reflect the court record and the Sentencing Council and CPS materials cited, and later cases or guideline updates may change the picture.