Thread: South Yorkshire man sold bodybuilding drugs

South Yorkshire man sold bodybuilding drugs



A South Yorkshire man who sold bodybuilding steroids online to pay his student debts has been jailed for nine months.



Benjamin Hartley looked shocked as he was told by a judge at Sheffield Crown Court he must serve an immediate custodial sentence.


Brian Outhwaite, prosecuting, said 24-year-old Hartley was caught after customs officers intercepted a parcel destined for his home in Darfield, Barnsley.


Police raided his home and found vials, tablets and capsules of testosterone, a class C drug.


Mr Outhwaite said: “The drugs were being packaged, labelled and sent on to others for commercial gain.”


He said Hartley, of Haverhill Grove, Wombwell, had advertised the drugs on the internet and received payments of £12,000.


Mr Outhwaite said police tracked down one of Hartley’s customers who was a bodybuilding enthusiast.


He said he took steroids orally or by injecting them and bought the items after seeing them advertised.


Hartley was arrested and interviewed by police last July.


He made full admissions and said he had been importing the drugs and selling them since October 2012 to pay off his debts from university.


He admitted importing and supplying a class C drug.


Andrew Sheldon, defending, said: “He was carried away without really contemplating the seriousness of it.”


Judge Sarah Wright said: “In effect you were running a business selling steroids.


“The message must go out that this sort of offending can’t be tolerated.”