Drug dealer from Nelson threw cannabis out of car window
4:00pm Friday 15th March 2013 in News By Wendy Barlow, Court reporter
A DRUG dealer threw cannabis worth almost £3,000 out of his car after driving erratically and being followed by police in Barrowford, a court heard.
Burnley Crown Court was told how Howard Farnell, 45, abandoned close to a kilo of the drug after an officer had tried to stop him.
Farnell was later caught, arrested and told police he had been given the drugs by two men, in return for not giving evidence in a court case in which he was the victim.
The defendant was spared jail, after admitting dangerous driving and possessing cannabis with intent to supply, on March 23, last year.
Farnell, of Temple Street, Nelson, was sentenced to 12 months, suspended for two years. He was banned from driving for a year, must take an extended retest and faces a proceeds of crime hearing on July 19.
Michael Wallbank, prosecuting, said just after midnight an officer in a marked police vehicle saw a BMW travelling at speed behind him which he allowed to pass. It increased its speed and the officer put on the blue lights and followed the car which mounted the pavement three times.
The BMW disappeared and the officer searched the area after recognising the driver. He found a carrier bag on Oaklands Avenue which contained 965 grams of cannabis, worth £2,750 Farnell was arrested on March 25 and claimed he had been given the cannabis in exchange for not giving evidence. The hearing was told Farnell, owned up on the basis he would use some of the cannabis himself and sell some to others for profit.
Philip Holden, for Farnell, said he was an unlikely drug dealer, on income support and living on a farm with his parents. He had started using drugs to deal with anxiety and tinnitus suffered after he was assaulted in 2007 and had been in court a number of times for possession.
