a day ago
Cocaine dealer walks free from court after claiming he only sold to mates
"Nobody can believe the judge seems to have fallen for his nonsense … He'll be celebrating big time'
This is the drug dealing pal of ear-biting serial thug Martin Valliday who was convicted this week of supplying cocaine.
Ryan Samuel Prenter – who's known as Smurf – pleaded guilty at Antrim Magistrates Court to having cocaine with intent to supply.
Pictured here for the first time, Prenter told the court he was only selling the highly addictive drug to his friends but sources in Antrim say he's an associate of Martin Valliday.
Valliday is a notorious criminal who has tortured the town of Antrim where he lives for years and was once jailed for committing GBH and robbery on a man who had contacted him to buy ecstasy tablets from him but ended up nearly having his ear bitten off.
This week Prenter, of Mull Road in Antrim, was allowed to walk free from court after a judge gave a one-year probation order and told him he must serve 75 hours' community service.
Court News NI reported how Prenter was caught when cops searched a vehicle in Antrim town earlier this year and found seven grammes of cocaine. They also located cash, scales, a mobile phone and ten zip bags in the vehicle near the Junction shopping complex around 4.45pm on March 9.
The court heard he had a previous record but not for drugs.
A prosecutor said the defendant told police he 'gets cocaine in bulk and then splits it between him and his friends and they provide him money for this'.
A defence barrister said there was a 'significant gap in offending'.
Ryan 'Smurf' Prenter
Today's News in 90 Seconds - July 1st
District Judge Nigel Broderick said: 'Normally anyone who pleads guilty to possessing drugs with intent to supply can readily expect to receive an immediate custodial sentence'. The light sentence came in the week a County Armagh father went public to call for automatic custodial sentences for those convicted of dealing cocaine after his son took his own life after he became addicted to the drug.
Tom McGrath's 22-year-old son Matthew had been using cocaine for several years when he was found dead in the garage of his mother's home in February 2024.
Speaking to the BBC, Mr McGrath said he is particularly concerned that many people who deal drugs do not end up serving jail time.
A source in Antrim said: 'He's been a low-level drug dealer for years and works with Martin Valliday and his gang of thugs.
"Nobody can believe the police and judge seem to have fallen for his nonsense he only sells gear to his friends.
'He'll be celebrating big time that he has pretty much got away with dealing cocaine.'
Ryan 'Smurf' Prenter
This time last year we reported how Martin Valliday had been put back behind bars for kicking a PSNI vehicle and telling cops it was 'payback for George Floyd'.
Valliday was arrested after he had launched what a judge described as a 'terrifying' attack on the home of a woman with a crossbow and a hatchet in December 2023.
When he was arrested he went berserk, and when interviewed he bizarrely claimed he was taking revenge for the murder of George Floyd – despite that having nothing to do with the PSNI.
In February 2020 Valliday was jailed for three-and-a-half years for a shocking attack which left a man with permanent injuries in what was described in court as a 'drug deal gone wrong'.
The victim had told the police he had contacted Valliday through Messenger, wanting to buy ecstasy.
The man said he was hit on the back of the head with a beer bottle while Valliday tried to bite his ear off, even shouting 'I have nearly got it'.
