[ Post New Message | Post Reply to this One | Send Private Email to Cathy | Help ]

Chef cleared of drugs charge after police raid

from Cathy (cathyvpreece@aol.com)

Chef cleared of drugs charge after police raid

Jul 4 2003

Croydon Advertiser

A CHEF who was arrested when police raided a Thornton Heath pub has been cleared of supplying drugs.

Kevin Brooks was alleged to have been caught with a bag containing drugs when officers stormed the McKenzie pub in Parchmore Road, Thornton Heath, on December 6 last year.

But the 51-year-old was acquitted of possession with intent to supply at Croydon Crown Court last Wednesday.

Prosecutor Anthony Fogg said police swooped on the premises in the middle of the evening.

Some went straight to the toilet area, where Brooks was seen standing with two other men.

Brooks was holding a mesh bag which he tried to put into a sink, he said.

When the bag was searched, small quantities of cannabis, crack cocaine and heroin were found in it.

Brooks, who was at the time living in Moffat Road, Thornton Heath, but now has a home in Kennington, denied any knowledge of the bag and claimed that the police officers were mistaken in saying that he had been holding it.

He told the jury: "I didn't handle the bag. I had nothing to do with it."

He added that £255 discovered on him was his wages which he had just been paid.

The pub, which belonged to the McKenzie boxing family, has since gone out of business.

(posted 7572 days ago)

[ Previous | Next ]