A DRUG-DEALER told police he had scales in his house to make sure he was not being ripped off when buying cocaine.

This was one of a number of excuses Matthew Minter-Palmer made when arrested by police in November 2020.

The 29-year-old today avoided jail after he admitted a number of drug offences and being in possession of thousands of pounds in ‘unaccounted money.’

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His guilty pleas came after officers found cannabis, cocaine, a burner phone and £600 on his person when they confronted him outside Barclays bank in Newbury.

They executed a warrant to search his home following his arrest and found scales, clean drug bags, and another burner phone.

Minter-Palmer, of Urquhart Road, Newbury, explained he had bought the cocaine and cannabis found on his person for recreational use.

He explained how he used the scales to make sure he had not been “ripped off” when making his purchase.

The clean drug bags were in his possession because he liked to “lick them” when he ran out of drugs.

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Explaining the two burner phones, Minter-Palmer said he used one to answer the phone for his father’s taxi company, and the other he had forgotten about.

When quizzed over messages on his phone from contacts who were asking for a specific amount of cannabis, the 29-year-old said he liked to share weed with his friends.

The £600 he withdrew from Barclays bank was to pay for his rent, he claimed.

However, Minter-Palmer was charged with possession of cocaine and cannabis and supplying cocaine and cannabis.

He was also charged with acquiring criminal property after more than £34,000 was discovered in a bank account belonging to him.

The money was “unaccounted for”, prosecutor Honour Fitzgerald said, and came from four payments between January 2020 and March 2021.

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Nick Saunders, defending, claimed Minter-Palmer’s life was “finally in a place where he has everything he wants” and “physically, he no longer looks like a Class A drug-user” after he had given up smoking crack cocaine.

He asked Mr Recorder Dyer to suspend Minter-Palmer’s sentence as he was a carer for his son and his father.

The sentencing was adjourned until Friday, April 29 in order for the probation service to make enquiries about Minter-Palmer’s care responsibilities.

The sentencing opened at Reading Crown Court on Monday, April 25.