Wadalba: Steven Anthony Masters-Whitehouse — AKA ‘MadMex’ —appeals sentence

A court has found “no error” in the seven-year stretch given to a man dubbed “MadMex” who sold guns and drugs to undercover cops.

Steven Anthony Masters-Whitehouse has appealed his seven and a half years jail for supplying guns and drugs to undercover police, some of which he kept at a self storage facility at Warnervale. Picture: supplied

A Central Coast man nicknamed “MadMex” has appealed the severity of his “crushing” seven and a half years minimum jail sentence for supplying kilos of drugs and high powered weapons to undercover cops.

However a panel of justices has found there was “no error” in the original judgement, and while it granted a the man an extension of time late last year, it has since dismissed the appeal aoutright.

Steven Anthony Masters-Whitehouse, 38, of Wadalba, faced the Supreme Court of Criminal Appeal on Friday, February 14, after appealing the “crushing” sentence he was imposed at Gosford District Court on February 2, 2022.

Masters-Whitehouse had pleaded guilty to seven offences including one count of unlawfully supplying firearms on three or more times within 12 months and six counts of supplying and conspiracy to supply prohibited drugs.

The court heard Masters-Whitehouse — who also went by the moniker “MadMex” — sold seven firearms, including a semi automatic assault rifle and three high powered pistols, for a total of $213,000.

Masters-Whitehouse was arrested through the efforts of Strike Force Shipley and Strike Force Meegan, which seized these drugs, cash and weapons during the investigation. Pictures: NSW Police

He also supplied more than 18kg of cannabis, almost 3kg of MDMA and 265g of cocaine for $395,000 between when he was introduced to an undercover officer on March 31, 202, and his arrest three months later.

Masters-Whitehouse’s lawyers appealed that the overall sentence was “manifestly excessive” and that greater concession should have been applied to his limited criminal history, his deprived upbringing and his resulting mental health issues.

Guns Steven Masters-Whitehouse, of Wadalba, supplied to an undercover operative. Picture: NSW Police

His lawyers said none of the drugs or guns ultimately ended up in the community and although he sold them on separate occasions it was all part of a “mixed business” over a short period of three months.

The Crown argued that Masters-Whitehouse received more than half a million dollars in total from the sales, which were financially motivated and not just to fund his own drug addiction because he did not have one.

The Crown also submitted Masters-Whitehouse fully intended the drugs and guns to hit the streets and that the non-parole period of half the total sentence was actually “lenient”.

Justices Peter Hamill, Natalie Adams and Deborah Sweeney concluded that while the sentencing judge had made “no error” there was a degree of subjectivity between what Masters-Whitehouse argued was an “unreasonable” aggregate sentence in relation to the “totality principal”.

Masters-Whitehouse said his sentence was unreasonable in light of the totality principle. (File image)

They said the totality principle required the court to do more than simply add all of the separate sentences together to avoid a “crushing sentence”.

However in the end, the Justices rejected his appeal and Masters-Whitehouse will serve out the remained of his sentence.