Dying man jailed for ten years

5:03pm Friday 27th June 2008

A dying man has been sentenced to ten years in jail for drug dealing.

Benjamin Zarins, 29, who is suffering from pancreatic cancer, has been told he may die within four months.

But he is now facing the prospect of dying behind bars after a judge passed the lengthy sentence at Lewes Crown Court.

Zarins, of Mill Road, Burgess Hill, did not appear in court to hear the sentence imposed by Judge Paul Tain.

He had admitted a string of drug dealing offences, including possessing with intent to supply cocaine, ketamine, amphetamine sulphate and cannabis.

The total street value of the drugs has been estimated at about £160,000.

Zarins also admitted five money laundering charges involving £5,500.

The court heard in the year before his arrest he had transferred £66,000 to a bank in Goa.

Zarins and his co-defendant Matthew Gumplowicz, 23, were arrested by police in January after detectives raided their storage container facility at More House Farm in Wivelsfield.

Zarins took responsibility for the drugs and Gumplowicz pleaded guilty to offences relating to drugs found at his home in Queens Park Road, Brighton.

These offences included possessing with intent to supply cocaine and ketamine and possession of 19 ecstasy tablets, earning him seven years in jail.

George Hepburn-Scott, defending, asked the judge to allow Zarins to spend his dying days with his family.

But the judge said he felt he had to take into account his public duty and allow the prison service to decide what happened to Zarins.

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