Drug-dealing shame of clever uni student

A STUDENT has been suspended by his university after being jailed for dealing drugs.

Connor Waite was caught when bouncers saw him throw a plastic bag on the floor as he queued to get inside Staffordshire University's Leek Road Venue (LRV).

The bag contained MDMA – widely known as ecstasy – and Waite had planned to sell the class-A drug inside the 5,000 capacity venue.

Waite, who was in his first year at the university, was arrested at the club after staff called police.

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A search of Waite's Stoke home found more MDMA and a container with 10 separate bags of cannabis inside.

In total, police seized 8.1 grams of MDMA, and 35.73 grams of cannabis resin.

The drugs had a combined street value of £540 and £300 cash was also found inside the house, as well as a mobile phone which had text messages from potential customers.

Waite, of Lewis Street, Stoke, originally claimed the drugs were for social supply, but later accepted there was a financial motive behind his dealing.

The 21-year-old, who had no previous convictions, pleaded guilty to possessing MDMA and cannabis with intent to supply on January 28.

Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard Waite had been taking cannabis since the age of 14 but started to take MDMA when he went to university in September 2011.

Kevin Mortlock, mitigating, said: "Since his arrest he has stopped taking MDMA, and has had some limited contact with counsellors by taking advice on the phone.

"The university allowed him to continue with his studies and he passed his first year exams, getting a grade which if achieved continually would be the equivalent of a 2:1.

"Despite the fact he is clearly clever enough to go to university, the naivety of his own use of drugs developed and the problem got out of control."

Waite has been jailed for two years

Sentencing him, Judge Robert Trevor-Jones said: "This is a very sad situation because you are a young man and clearly someone with promise, intelligence and talent.

"However, you got involved in the supply of drugs, and people who do that must expect to go to prison."

Following yesterday's sentence, a Staffordshire University spokesman said: "Now sentencing has taken place, the university will suspend the student's studies. After completing his sentence, the student can apply to continue his degree and this decision will be taken by the university, taking all available circumstances into account."

"Students with criminal convictions are able to apply to university although we expect them to declare their conviction and each application is then considered by a panel.

"The safety and wellbeing of other students is always a prime consideration in our decision-making and clearly we view drug dealing as an extremely serious offence."