Dealer who supplied ‘Superman’ drug which killed Ipswich man is jailed

An Ipswich man who was involved in the supply of drugs to one of two men who died from a batch of ecstasy known as “Superman” tablets has been jailed for five years and four months

Jailing Adrian Lubecki Judge John Devaux said:”I accept you didn’t foresee that your drug dealing might lead to a death.”

Lubecki, 19, of St Matthews Street, Ipswich admitted being concerned in the supply of a Class A drug, known as PMMA, between December 21 and January 2 and possessing amphetamine with intent to supply on January 2.

Michael Crimp, prosecuting at Ipswich Crown Court said that 23-year-old Justas Ropas, of Bramford Lane, Ipswich died on Christmas Eve after taking one and a half “Superman” tablets.

One of his flat mates had contacted Lubecki on December 23 and asked if he could supply some ecstasy tablets and he and Mr Ropas had then gone to meet up with Lubecki in Norwich Road.

“Between them they purchased five ecstasy tablets for £5 each. They were triangular in shape, red and had a ‘Superman’ logo on them,” said Mr Crimp.

The men went back to their house and Mr Ropas had consumed one and a half of the tablets.

Mr Crimp said one of the people in the flat who’d taken ecstasy before said the “Superman” tablets “seemed different” and described their effect as being slow to start off with and then “suddenly very strong”.

“Tragically the effect on Justas Ropas was that by Christmas Eve he was discovered dead in the flat and the cause of his death was found to be PMMA toxicity,” said Mr Crimp.

Mr Crimp said another death had arisen from the “Superman” tablets but they were purchased from a man who had not been identified. “The prosecution can’t say they came from the defendant,” said Mr Crimp.

He said that after Lubecki’s arrest a stash of drugs containing 461 PMMA tablets with the “Superman” logo and 49 MDMA tablets with a snail logo was discovered.”they were carefully hidden and not thrown away,” said Mr Crimp.

He said text messages found on Lubecki’s mobile phone showed he had been involved in drug dealing from April last year.

He said there was no evidence the tablets taken by Mr Ropas, who was diabetic, were “bad drugs” or contained a bad ingredient.

Roger Thomson for Lubecki said his client was devastated by what had happened to Mr Ropas and it was something he would have to live with for the rest of his life.

He had got involved in drug dealing to fund his own drug use but after what happened to Mr Ropas he didn’t want to have anything more to do with drugs.

He said that after his arrest Lubecki had told police where the remaining “Superman” tablets were hidden to prevent a further tragedy.