Return to sender: Discarded envelope leads Gardai to Buncrana drug dealer

A Buncrana drug dealer was detected through a discarded envelope he had used to post drugs to another part of Donegal.

A stash of MDMA, cocaine and cannabis were found in the home of Patrick McNamee when Gardai pounced.

McNamee pleaded guilty to three counts of the possession of illegal drugs for the purpose of selling or supplying on March 25, 2021.

The 28-year-old, of Burwood, Buncrana, was given a suspended sentence when he appeared at Letterkenny Circuit Court.

A few days earlier, Gardai, armed with a search warrant, raided a property in the Donegal Town area. Officers found seven or eight people described as being “well dressed up” and who had gathered to watch the Cheltenham horse racing festival.

Alcohol and takeaway wrappers were on the premises and Gardai found quantities of drugs. One man handed detectives a tablet and said it was “basically cannabis, it came with my weed”.

During the course of a search, Gardai found an envelope in a wheelie bin outside which was addressed to a man who was in the property. A stamp showed that the envelope had been posted in Buncrana and Gardai established that it had couriered the drugs.

Detectives visited Buncrana Post Office and harvested CCTV footage, which captured McNamee. A search warrant was obtained and officers swooped on McNamee’s home at Burwood, Buncrana. 

A cache of drugs including 306 ecstasy tablets, 28.1 grams of cocaine and 4.5 grams of cannabis were found. The total value of the drugs found was €5,407 while Gardai also recovered €5,630 in cash.

McNamee was arrested and put his hands up, telling Gardai that he had a severe addiction himself.

“It’s all my fault,” McNamee told detectives, adding that he had a debt to pay which would now be “worse”.

Gardai described McNamee as being “100 per cent” during interactions and led officers to the room where the drugs were located. Gardai said the defendant had come back to meet his case at every opportunity.

The court heard that McNamee had got into debt with “certain elements”, but has since relocated to London for work and has not come to any further adverse attention.

McNamee’s barrister, Mr Peter Nolan BL, told the court that his client began selling drugs to pay for his own habit.

The raid came as a “relief” to McNamee, his barrister said.

“He viewed this as the only way out,” Mr Nolan said. “He doesn’t attempt to minimise his involvement or justify it.”

He said McNamee is now working in London and has good support from his family. 

Mr Nolan outlined how McNamee began experimenting with drugs after his parents separated and he had addiction issues.

“He became increasingly dependent on cannabis and that escalated,” Mr Nolan said. 

The Probation Service have placed McNamee as being of a low risk of reoffending and a series of references were handed in to the court on behalf of the accused, including one from his current employer.

Mr Nolan said McNamee has no contact now with “previous cohorts” in the Buncrana area, is now regularly engaged in  and has been deemed as suitable for community service. 

Mr Nolan asked Judge Aylmer to be as lenient as possible.

“Wrong decisions were made,” he said, “and he became involved with people that he shouldn’t have. He has a chance to rehabilitate now and I don’t believe that you will see Mr McNamee before you again if he gets this one opportunity.”

Before considering mitigation, Judge Aylmer said the offending merited concurrent sentences of 18 months imprisonment.  

Judge Aylmer said McNamee was fully cooperative and had viewed his detection as fortunate as it prevented him from continuing on a journey into the criminal world. McNamee followed with a guilty plea, has clear family support and has been engaging “enthusiastically” in his rehabilitation journey, Judge Aylmer noted.

Adding that McNamee is engaging in regular physical fitness and has secured excellent employment in London, he said the sentences could be reduced to 12 months imprisonment on each count.

Given the contents of a probation report and the lack of need for continued supervision, Judge Aylmer suspended the entirety of the 12 month sentences for a period of one year on McNamee entering a bond to keep the peace and be of good behaviour. McNamee was ordered to abstain completely from unprescribed drugs and alcohol during that period.

A destruction order in respect of the drugs and a forfeiture order for €5,630 in cash were made by Judge Aylmer.