Bradley Lankester took to cannabis and meth on leaving home at 18

The now 26-year-old started using cannabis after moving out of the family home which led to meth and trafficking.

Leaving home at 18 to live the independent life soon descended into drug use for a Toowoomba man jailed this week for six years for trafficking and possessing meth.

Bradley Lankester had a structured upbringing, but he left school after Year 8 due to “severe bullying” and was home schooled for Years 9 and 10, his barrister David Jones told Toowoomba Supreme Court on Friday.

He completed three and a half years of a four year painting apprenticeship but left home when turning 18, he said.

Lankester soon became addicted to cannabis and then, after the break-up with the mother of his child in 2018, he took to meth to which he also became addicted, he said.

Crown prosecutor Nicole Friedewald said police had searched Lankester’s home in January 2021 and found 26g of substance of which 16.5g was pure meth, a growing cannabis plant and $5000 cash.

He told police he had $10,000 of drugs ready to supply to others and inspection of his phone found he had been trafficking drugs over a 10-month period with a customer base of 49, she said.

Ms Friedewald said it was accepted Lankester’s trafficking was at street level and that he had been dealing drugs to support his own addiction.

Released on bail, police found Lankester sitting in a car with another man in Withcott on April 2, she said.

During a search of the car, police found 53g of substance of which 40.9g was pure meth.

Lankester, 26, who had spent the ensuing 14 months in custody, pleaded guilty to trafficking, producing and possessing dangerous drugs.

Mr Jones said his client “needed to be arrested, needed to be remanded and needed a circuit break” which was jail during which time he had to go “cold” from drugs.

During the 14 months in custody, Lankester had done a number of drug rehab programs, had a responsible job in the prison and his family, who were in court supporting him, had noticed a marked improvement in him, Mr Jones said. Upon release from jail, his client intended moving back home to his mother and either completing his painting apprenticeship or finding other work, he said.

Justice Martin Burns noted Lankester’s efforts to rehabilitate while in jail.

“It seems to me you have slowly returned to the person you were before you left home,” he told the prisoner.

However, remarking the offending was serious, Justice Burns sentenced Lankester to six years in jail but, declaring the 420 days of pre-sentence custody as time already served under the sentence, ordered he be eligible to apply for parole as of December 2, 2022.