Wolverhampton teenager broke into county lines drug house armed with baseball bat

It was suspected Barrington Morrant had been sent there because of displeasure with the occupants over the missing drugs, Warwick Crown Court heard.

But he was given a suspended sentence after the judge said he believed 18-year-old Morrant had himself been exploited by others and may have been a victim of modern-day slavery.

Morrant, of Lloyd Street, Whitmore Reans, was convicted of burgling the house in Hereford in April last year.

After hearing he had already spent four months in custody, Judge Andrew Lockhart QC sentenced him to 18 months detention suspended for two years, with a 7pm to 7am curfew for six months, and ordered him to take part in rehabilitation.

The judge heard that during the afternoon of April 22 a couple were upstairs at their home in Chisel Close when they heard a noise from downstairs.

They went downstairs and in the kitchen they found Morrant, who was armed with a baseball bat which he hit against the wall, smashing a tile, before taking £80 in cash.

When Morrant was arrested later, he still had the money and the baseball bat, and he was picked out in an identification procedure.

Prosecutor Katie Fox said that in 2017 Morrant had been arrested for possessing heroin and crack with intent to supply them, and "may have been working within a county lines operation."

At the time of the burglary he may have been on bail for those matters, for which he appeared at the Back Country Youth Court in April last year and was given a referral order.

Exploited

Miss Fox said that Morrant’s situation had been referred to the National Referral Mechanism who had made a preliminary finding that he may have been the victim of modern slavery.

And she pointed out that the burglary victims’ address was believed to have been used by county lines operators to store drugs, and there had been a police raid, in which a significant quantity of drugs were seized, in the weeks before the burglary.

Aimee Parkes, defending, said: “He is still struggling to come to terms with what happened in Hereford, and he’s concerned about repercussions. He’s on lockdown for 23 hours a day for his own safety.”

Miss Parkes said that before being remanded in custody, where he had been for four months, Morrant had been assaulted at college, as a result of which he had not been allowed to return to the college.

Judge Lockhart indicated: “I am minded to find he was exploited, but to what degree is difficult to fathom.”

Sentencing Morrant, the judge told him: “You are a young man, and you have an appalling record.

“Why that record is in existence, I find it quite hard to fathom. I find there has been some element in your background of others who are keen for you to commit offences, but there has been some volunteering to commit those offences as well.

“The complainants were at home when they heard banging. They came downstairs and found you with a baseball bat, and you banged it against the wall.

“Why you were there I find it quite hard to fathom. My inkling is that there had been drugs taken and you were there as part of that drug supply network.

“But there is some evidence of exploitation. You are seen by the author of the pre-sentence report as more of a victim than a perpetrator.”