Jail term reduced for Plaistow man who supplied cocaine and bullets

A Plaistow man who supplied cocaine - along with 9mm ammunition from the Balkans war - to an undercover cop has had his jail term slashed on appeal.

Jeffrey Charles, 36, of Meredith Road, supplied 253g of cocaine to the officer, and 50 9mm bullets, stamped with a NATO symbol, which he said he had got through his Serbian connections. He also offered to get a kilo of cocaine but never came through on his promise.

Charles was caged for nine years in October 2011 at Snaresbrook Crown Court, having pleaded guilty to supplying cocaine and ammunition and offering to supply cocaine.

But last Friday his sentence was cut to seven and a half years at London’s Criminal Appeal Court.

The judge said: “The long period of gestation during which the undercover officer gained his trust” ought to count as mitigation.

“The police acted perfectly properly, but it is clear that there was a period of cultivation of this appellant by the undercover officer.

“We think the judge did fail to take that into account when considering whether there should have been a further reduction in the sentence.”