Man found guilty on two drug charges

Press, 8 February 1985, Page 9

Man found guilty on two drug charges

After deliberating for four hours, a jury in the High Court yesterday found Michael Paul Dench, aged 26, a bricklayer’s assistant, guilty on charges of manufacturing morphine and allowing his flat in Trafalgar Street to be used to make the drug. His girlfriend, Sharyn Marie Morgan, aged 21, a receptionist, was found not guilty on the manufacturing charge but guilty on the charge involving the flat. Both were remanded on bail to February 15 for sentence. Mr G. K. Panckhurst appeared for the Crown, Mr E. Bedo for Dench, and Messrs R. J. Murfitt and S. C. Clay for Morgan. The trial began on Monday. Mr Murfitt, in his address to the jury, said that the police had done a “magnificent job” in detecting the illicit laboratory while everything was “on the boil and bubble” and the Crown had proved the morphine was manufactured. Douglas James Archer and Mark Earland Thomas had admitted that offence at the opening of the trial and had been remanded for sentence. Morgan had to be acquitted on both counts because the evidence did not establish her guilt. There was nothing to

show that she took any part in the manufacture of the morphine, Mr Murfitt said. Morgan was emotionally involved with Dench, who was an addict. She might be very naive and immature but that did not make her guilty of the offences. She knew nothing about the chemicals, why they were used, or the process involved. She was a complete “babe in the woods” when it came to the involved chemical procedure for the making of the drug being carried out in the Trafalgar Street flat. Detective Robyn Ashley had had the impression that Morgan was given jobs to do without knowing the significance of them. Morgan was used as a pawn to fetch and carry by the others and did not know what they were up to. Morgan was not a knowing participant in the production of morphine. It was obvious that she had no control over what happened in the flat. She was not a party to the tenancy agreement entered into by Dench. He was the tenant and she was his girlfriend. She could have been asked to leave as soon as the relationship with him came to an end. What was going on in the kitchen was none of Morgan’s business and she was not even there for most of

the time. She was upstairs. She had no convictions. Her guilt had not been established and she had to be acquitted on both charges, Mr Murfitt submitted. Mr Bedo, for Dench, said he wanted to make it clear at the outset that Dench no longer contested the charge of allowing his Trafalgar Street flat to be used for the manufacture of morphine. It was clear that that charge had been proved by the Crown but that did not apply to the charge of manufacturing morphine, which had not been established. It had not been shown that the painkiller bought from the chemist’s shop had been used in the production of the illegal drug. Dench told Detective K. W. Kortegast that he had bought the analgesic but that he had no idea how to make morphine. He just allowed his flat to be used but in no way was involved in the actual manufacture. Nothing said by Morgan could be used as evidence against Dench, who should be found not guilty on the charge of manufacturing morphine because the Crown had failed to prove its case to the required standard, Mr Bedo said.

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