By Court Reporter
A DRUG user is facing jail after he armed himself with a knuckle duster during a trip to buy crack cocaine.
The exchange in Belmont Park was seen by police and Way was found with the weapon as he tried to run away but was chased down and arrested.
He claimed it was not his and that he had just disarmed two men who had been planning to mug the dealer for his drugs and money.
Way is likely to be jailed because it his second conviction for carrying a weapon and he was in breach of a suspended sentence imposed just two months earlier for a burglary in which he broke into a charity shop in Crediton and stole a safe.
He was also subject to a drug rehabilitation requirement as part of the suspended sentence and has a history of drug addiction and petty crime.
Way (39), of Station Yard, Crediton, denied possession of an offensive weapon but was found guilty by a jury at Exeter Crown Court.
He admitted personal possession of crack cocaine.
Recorder Mr Mathew Turner adjourned sentence until November 30 and ordered a probation report.
He told him: “You were in breach of both a suspended sentence and a drug rehabilitation requirement and I need to know what compliance there has been with the previous order. It has clearly not been plain sailing.
“One would normally expect the activation of all or part of the suspended sentence and I have that very much on my mind.”
Miss Felicity Payne, prosecuting, said police interrupted a drug deal in Belmont Park on May 17 and arrested Way when he tried to run away. He had 0.127 grammes of crack and a metal knuckle duster.
He told police he had been given it by the dealer and was taking it straight home but told the jury he had disarmed two men in their 30s who planned to rob the supplier.
He said he had just got a new job after being on benefits for 18 months and bought the drugs to celebrate.
Miss Kelly Scrivener, defending, said Way’s attempts to turn his life around had been set back by the death of his father.
Way had previously been in court on March 14 this year when he admitted burgling the Exeter Leukaemia Fund shop in High Street, Crediton, and received a seven month suspended sentence.
In that case, he broke into the shop, ripped out the safe, and was heading home by bike when police spotted him weaving around the street, struggling under the weight of his loot.