Suspended prison sentence for magic mushrooms forager

Charlie Bromley, 43, was caught with short of an ounce of ‘shrooms’ when he was stopped by the police in Carterton on October 24, 2021.

Also found in his rucksack was a small craft knife, which Oxford Crown Court heard was used to harvest the wild mushrooms.

The defendant, who was said to have ‘micro-dosed’ on the drug, claimed not to realise the drug were in class A, the same category of illegal substances as cocaine, heroin and ecstasy.

He said the drugs found on him when he was stopped by the police were for his own consumption, but accepted supplying the trip-inducing vegetables to others on different occasions.

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Sentencing, Recorder Rachel Drake told the defendant: “The police stopped you with just under an ounce of what are colloquially known as magic mushrooms.

“They are in fact a class A drug. I accept that at the time you didn’t appreciate they were a class A drug, although you believed they were an illegal substance so you knew that what you were doing was wrong.”

But she spared him an immediate prison sentence, suspending the 18 month jail term for two years and ordering Bromley to do 150 hours of unpaid work and complete a six month mental health treatment requirement.

Bromley, of Minster Road, Brize Norton, had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to being concerned in the supply of a class A drug and possession of a knife in a public place.

Mitigating, James Hay said his client would welcome the intervention of the mental health services, having found himself pushed to the ‘back of the queue’ when he had approached them for help.

He was living with his mother, had been deemed a low risk of reoffending by the probation services and, Mr Hay suggested, there was a realistic prospect of his client being rehabilitated.

Magic mushrooms were classified in law as a ‘class A’ drug in 2005, putting them in the same category as substances like cocaine and heroin.

Charlie Bromley leaves Oxford Crown Court after he is spared an immediate prison sentence Picture: Oxford Mail (Image: Oxford Mail)

The drug has become increasingly popular in recent years, with proponents claiming that taking small quantities helps their mental health. The practice is known as ‘micro-dosing’.

Earlier this summer, a judge at Oxford Crown Court delivered a lecture on the dangers of using the drug as she sentenced a ‘shrooms’ dealer.

Recorder Samantha Presland said: “From a deterrence point of view, people need to understand just because in the Times and Telegraph and Sunday Times there is a nice article about [taking mushrooms at a] cocktail party, it’s a class A and anyone running said event is liable to be put in a leading role and is looking at the barrel of a starting point of 14 years.”