Ipswich drug dealer Dylan Zdrenka jailed at crown court

Twenty-one-year-old Dylan Zdrenka was stopped and searched by police in Tacket Street along with 22-year-old Joseph Dobbins on March 8 this year, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

Both men were in possession of mobile phones which contained messages connected with drug dealing and Dobbins was also found in possession of four wraps of cocaine.

Zdrenka also had £280 cash, said Gareth Hughes, prosecuting.

Dobbins, of Gipping Road, Ipswich, and Zdrenka, of Meadow Drive, Great Blakenham, admitted being in possession of cocaine with intent to supply.

The two men were sentenced at Ipswich Crown Court (Image: Newsquest)

Zdrenka, who has three previous offences for possessing class A drugs with intent to supply dating back to when he was 16 or 17, also admitted possessing criminal property.

Dobbins was given an 18-month prison sentence suspended for two years, a 12-month alcohol treatment requirement, a 40 session Thinking Skills programme and a 10-day rehabilitation activity requirement.

Sentencing the men, Judge Nicola Talbot-Hadley accepted there had been an element of coercion by people more criminally aware than the defendants.

She found exceptional circumstances for not imposing a minimum seven-year sentence in Zdrenka. 

Stephen Mather, for Dobbins, said he had ADHD, autism and suffered from seizures.

Zdrenka, of Great Blakenham (Image: Suffolk police)

He said Dobbins was prepared to cooperate with any offer of help given to him by the court and to be a good member of society.

Steven Dyble, for Zdrenka, said his client was only 16 and 17 when the three earlier drug supply offences were committed and it would be an injustice if he was given statutory seven-year minimum sentence.

He said the offence before the court was Zdrenka’s first adult conviction for drug dealing and Mr Dyble asked the judge to find exceptional circumstances for not passing the “crushingly long” statutory minimum sentence.

He said Zdrenka had never served a custodial sentence and his recent drug dealing had been over a relatively short period of time.