Former director sentenced over chemsex dealing

Mark Sitton-Kent is a former director of operations at the Environment Agency

A former director at the Environment Agency has been sentenced for dealing drugs to people involved in a chemsex group he had met on the dating app Grindr.

Mark Sitton-Kent, 57, pleaded guilty to dealing methamphetamine and GHB after drugs were found in a property in Nottinghamshire.

Nottingham Crown Court heard how the defendant met people involved in the chemsex scene - the practice of having sex while high on drugs - on Grindr after he came out as gay.

Sitton-Kent, of Fortune Avenue, Kneesall, was given a two-year prison sentence, suspended for 21 months, during a hearing on Wednesday.

Police found a "crystallised substance" down the side of the sofa while arresting Sitton-Kent

During the sentencing hearing, Judge James Sampson heard how the former director's marriage ended after he came out in the 2010s.

Wishing to explore his sexuality, Sitton-Kent used Grindr to meet other gay men, the court heard.

Barristers representing the defendant said he "tried to be careful" while using the app, but also wanted to experiment and was drawn into a "loose social group" of people interested in chemsex.

Text messages on his phone show he started discussing the buying and selling of methamphetamine in 2019, the court heard.

'These drugs kill'

He retired from his role as director of operations at the Environment Agency in 2023 after people started to get in touch with his employer, spreading rumours about his behaviour.

The court heard officers had been sent in October 2023 to a house where he was staying and a capsule bag was found down the side of a sofa containing a "crystallised substance". They also found a mobile phone and a set of scales.

During his sentencing remarks, Judge Sampson told Sitton-Kent to "be under no illusions, these drugs kill".

He said: "They have been implemented in the deaths of gay men up and down the country. They are dangerous and you risked the lives of others."

Sitton-Kent had previously pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of class A drugs (methamphetamine) and being concerned in the supply of class A drugs (GHB) at a hearing at the same court in October.