Tragedy ‘goes with territory’ judge tells friends of murdered County Lines drug dealer
A judge has told friends of a murdered County Lines dealer “It is sad, but it goes with the territory” after being told how he was stabbed to death in the Black Country.
Judge Stephen Climie said the killing of 20-year-old Bailey Atkinson in Walsall should act as a warning to two friends who were arrested for the same drugs conspiracy in Devon.
Atkinson was stabbed on Walsall High Street in the early hours of January 28 this year, just days after he was released on bail from Exeter Crown Court, it was heard. He had admitted a conspiracy to supply cocaine and heroin and was awaiting sentence at the time of his killing. The two friends who travelled to Exeter with Atkinson in the summer of 2020 to sell drugs were spared jail sentences after the judge heard how they were both shocked by the murder.
Mason Benny, aged 22, of Clinton Road, Bilston, and Andrew Fernandes, aged 21, of Margum Crescent, Birmingham, both admitted conspiracy to supply class A drugs and were ordered to do 40 days of rehabilitation activities under a three year community order at Exeter Crown Court.
Judge Climie marked Atkinson’s file as ineffective and closed his case. He said: “It is sad, but it goes with the territory now.”
He told Fernandes and Benny: “Class A drugs are just destroying lives and killing people. It can also result in a death of another type. As I said, when dealing with Bailey Atkinson, it goes with the territory.
“That is the life which you are potentially setting up for yourselves.” Mr Adrian Chaplin, prosecuting, said of Atkinson.
“I recall having an exchange with him on the day he pleaded guilty. It was not the longest conversation, but in that time he came across really well.” Mr Chaplin said Fernandes, Benny, Atkinson, and two other men were all involved in a County Lines operation which operated during early 2020 and was broken up when police arrested four men as they dealt drugs in the St Thomas church yard in Exeter on August 20.
Officers seized 23 ready-for-sale wraps, £137 cash, and a ‘graft’ phone used to set up drug deals. Mr Simon Hanns, for Fernandes and Mr Ben Hargreaves, for Benny, said they both played lesser roles and were both shocked by the murder of their friend. Ryan Christie, aged 46, from Exeter, was jailed for three years in September 2020 for possession with intent to supply.
Paul Belcher, aged 54, also from Exeter, admitted the same conspiracy as Fernandes and Benny and received the same sentence.
