University student's descent into Kettering's murky drugs world to pay off 'debt'

A university student became involved in the murky world of drug dealing after being told he had to pay off a debt.

Oluwatomisin Ijagbemi was promised £50 by a man he had met in prison if he went to an address in Northamptonshire, an opportunity he took because his family was strapped for cash.

But when he returned to his Nottinghamshire home he was told he now owed money because something had gone missing – before dealing drugs to work it off instead.

The 21-year-old is now starting a 28-month prison sentence after being caught with class A substances in Kettering.

Yesterday (Friday) Northampton Crown Court heard police visited a ‘cuckooed’ property in Gloucester Close on April 17 and found the Nottingham Trent University student sitting on the sofa watching TV. A woman who was living there said she didn’t know who he was.

Ijagbemi was taken into custody and searched when the drugs fell from his boxer shorts. Prosecutor Lauren Fisher said they included 15 wraps of cocaine, worth £300, and 19 wraps of heroin, worth £190.

Text messages on a seized phone referred to ‘brown and white’ and Ms Fisher said Ijagbemi, who appeared over videolink from HMP Peterborough, was 'clearly selling straight to street users'.

He later admitted possessing cocaine and heroin with intent to supply but mitigation barrister Micaila Williams told the court he did not have a significant role in the operation.

She said he had previously spent a short period in custody in 2021 for non-drug offences – although the court did not hear what they were – and a man who he had met in prison made himself known to him again earlier this year.

At the time Ijagbemi was struggling at university and was living with his mum, who was struggling in the cost of living crisis.

Ms Williams said: "She was providing for her three sons at home unable to, effectively, afford to live.

"He was presented with an opportunity. He was asked to go to an address in Northamptonshire and he would get £50 for being at the address."

Ms Williams said that Ijagbemi did it but that when he returned he was told that he now owed them money because something had been ‘lost’.

She said: "He then had no choice but to return to work off the debt. There was no financial advantage to him other than paying off, in effect, a non-existent debt."

The court heard that Ijagbemi had previously worked in warehouses to help provide for his family and that he had shown genuine remorse for his actions.

Ms Williams added: "He took an opportunity and made a rash decision because of the position he and his family found themselves in. It's the wrong decision."

Sentencing, His Honour Judge David Herbert KC said he would reduce the prison sentence from four years to 28 months to take mitigation and credit for guilty pleas into account.

He told Ijagbemi: "Plainly there is a good side to you and a productive side...it's a shame frankly that has all been wasted so far."

The drug dealer will serve up to half of his sentence in custody before being released on licence.