Environment Agency boss had chemsex with Grindr dates as he explored homosexuality
Mark Sitton Kent, 57, was buying two illegal substances – methamphetamine and GHB – in “wholesale amounts” and selling them to a circle of people he’d met on the gay dating app Grindr
A former Environment Agency Director of Operations has been exposed for purchasing and peddling drugs for chemsex sessions with other men.
Nottingham Crown Court was told how divorced dad-of-two Mark Sitton Kent spent four years “offering to administer controlled drugs to others and asking others to inject him”.
Mobile phone evidence revealed the 57-year-old was purchasing two banned substances – methamphetamine and GHB – in “wholesale amounts” before flogging them to a network of contacts he’d encountered on gay dating platform Grindr. The defendant has now avoided immediate custody after a judge imposed a two-year prison sentence, suspended for 21 months.
During sentencing, Judge James Sampson told the defendant: “For some years, you have been involved in something known as ‘Chemsex’ and you offered to supply drugs for these purposes to others and engaged in the activity.”, reports Nottinghamshire Live.
“Be under no illusions, these drugs kill. They have been implicated in the deaths of gay men up and down the country. They are dangerous, and by peddling these dangerous substances for your own gratification, you have risked the lives of others.”
Prosecutor Devni Kitulagoda explained that officers detained Sitton Kent at a Newark address on October 12, 2023, discovering a methamphetamine capsule concealed within a brown bag.
She stated: “The defendant was involved in ‘Chemsex’ or sexual activity whilst under the influence of drugs from at least 2018 up until October 2023.
“Messages on a mobile phone indicate that he appeared to be purchasing larger wholesale amounts of drugs associated with Chemsex, including Methamphetamine and GHB and offering or supplying them to others and arranging to have chemsex at various locations.
“In particular, he wished to purchase 50g of Methamphetamine and appeared to have the intention of selling part of this to recoup costs. He also wished to purchase about 1 litre of GHB, which would have been enough to make 400 to 1000 doses. “He offered to administer controlled drugs to others and asked others to inject him.”
Sitton Kent, of Fortune Avenue, Kneesall, near Newark, had previously admitted being involved in the supply of methamphetamine and GHB between 2019 and 2023.
He has a clean criminal record with no prior convictions.
Defence barrister Digby Johnson revealed his client came out as gay in his 50s after being a married father-of-two and stepped down from his “well-paid and well-respected” position at the Environment Agency aged 55 following “rumours” that were doing the rounds about him.
He argued the text messages his client exchanged with like-minded individuals were mere “bravado” rather than genuine intent to flog the drugs to them.
The barrister explained: “He had not had many sexual encounters, so he started using an app for homosexual men, which was full of people who wanted power over others or who wanted drugs to fuel sex or to blackmail people.
“He says he wanted to explore and experiment with his homosexuality, and the people he was put in contact with were people who involved themselves in chemsex, and that he was drawn into the circle. He accepts he shared drugs with people he’d met through Grindr.”
Widely regarded as dangerous, Chemsex combines the terms “chemical” and “sex” and describes the consumption of drugs, especially psychoactive and disinhibiting substances, during sexual activity.
These substances modify brain function and cause alterations in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition, or behaviour.
As conditions of the suspended sentence, the judge instructed Sitton Kent to complete 15 rehabilitation sessions and carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.
