Hamish Le Poer Trench sentenced over cocaine supply before Scone Cup

The Upper Hunter identity walked out of the Crown at Barangaroo with cocaine and cannabis and ready for Australia’s richest country race meeting, only to be met by detectives.

He was the former Kings School student and declared bankrupt who was so excited about the quality of cocaine he was handing out he once boasted to a mate: “You are gonna lose your shit...when I get there, you and I are gonna go straight to the toilets”.

But Hamish Mark Le Poer Trench’s apparent generosity for feeding friends drugs – including some he would source as payment for his $220,000-a-year diesel mechanics job – was finally thwarted when detectives stopped him and fellow dealer Thomas James Elmes as they left Crown Casino at Barangaroo on May 11.

In his bag was the 21.27 grams of cocaine the pair had left from Elmes buying an ounce (27 grams) while in Sydney just in time for Australia’s richest country race meeting in their home town of Scone.

Hamish Le Poer Trench leaves Muswellbrook Local Court after being sentenced for supplying drugs in Scone. Picture: Dan Proudman

There was also more cocaine and 24 grams of cannabis also in his bag before Strike Force Bunks detectives found more than 100 MDMA pills and cannabis-laced lollies in Le Poer’s family home in Scone.

It is not suggested that Le Poer Trench’s family is involved in any wrongdoing.

On Tuesday, Le Poer Trench was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment before a magistrate ordered that he serve it in the community as part of an intensive corrections order and perform 100 hours of community service.

It was a close call for the Scone identity, who bowed his head after being told he had escaped full-time custody when he was sentenced in Muswellbrook Local Court after pleading guilty to four counts of possessing a prohibited drug and three charges of taking part in supplying a prohibited drug more than the indictable amount but less than a commercial quantity.

Hamish Le Poer Trench

Police facts tendered to the court said Strike Force Bunks detectives had intercepted text messages and phone calls between Le Poer Trench and some “associates” as they investigated what the court heard was a drug supply ring operating in Scone.

When sitting at the Scone RSL Club at 3.45pm on February 26, an associate texted Le Poer Trench and asked if he was “behaving himself”.

“Of course not...double parked and the reason is this,” Le Poer Trench replied, suggesting to his mate he couldn’t drink because of at least six bags of suspected cocaine in his wallet which he showed via a text message.

At 8pm, Le Poer Trench texted another “associate”: “Mate. I have got The. Best. Bags. You’ve ever tasted...mate, I’m gonna shout you a f**king line of the stuff, you are gonna lose your shit...When I get there, you and I are gonna go straight to the toilets”.

The police facts tendered in court said in the lead-up to the two-day Scone Cup on May 13, detectives recorded a number of conversations between Le Poer Trench and Elmes.

Thomas Elmes will be sentenced on September 27.

“Do I need to pick anything up tomorrow or have we got enough for the races?” Elmes asked on May 5.

“Oh, I’ll have enough for the races,” Le Poer Trench replied.

Six days later, the pair travelled to Sydney for business before Elmes bought an ounce of cocaine for $12,500, the police facts said.

They were arrested in the foyer of Crown Casino at Barangaroo.

Elmes, who has pleaded guilty to one count of taking part in drug supply – greater than indictable quantity and less than commercial quantity, will be sentenced next week.

But it was Le Poer Trench who was left to tell journalists his sentencing was “a lesson learnt” outside court after escaping full-time jail.

Solicitor Mark Hodges had told the court Le Poer Trench had had a troubled upbringing, having to leave Kings School to go to Cranbrook School following the separation of his parents.

He had built up a significant diesel mechanic business in Western Australia before a downturn in mining sent him bankrupt and he moved to Scone with his wife and family.

Mr Hodges said Le Poer Trench had enjoyed an annual income of $220,000 before media reports of his arrest meant clients deserted him. The police facts alleged it was approximately $300,000.

And the lawyer told magistrate Kevin Hockey that his client was not supplying drugs for financial gain, instead giving friends substances.

That included Le Poer Trench’s plans to hand out a number of more than 100 MDMA pills, which he had been given as payment for a job, to friends at a dance festival which was cancelled.

The police facts said Le Poer Trench had told detectives that he kept the pills to give out at social gatherings.

“He denied ever supplying drugs for financial gain or to random people,” police facts said.

The magistrate said the offences meant Le Poer Trench needed to be sentenced to a jail term, but took into account that he had no criminal history, had admitted his wrongdoing and had shown “significant contrition”.

Le Poer Trench was also fined $800 and placed on a 12-month community corrections order as well as the intensive corrections order.