Twenty-four-hour dealer who took over Wakefield home is spared custody due to sentencing changes
He was caught with £9,000 worth of substances
A “fearful” young dealer caught with huge amounts of crack cocaine has been spared custody due to the relaxed sentencing guidelines.
Jamal Khan had even taken over a one-bedroom flat where a man and child had been living, to ply his evil trade.
He was handed a suspended sentence at Leeds Crown Court after it was heard he was terrified at the prospect of prison.
Police raided the property on the Portobello estate in Wakefield on August 23, 2024.
They found more than 97 grammes of crack cocaine worth £9,470.
They also found £663 in cash, dealer bags, scales, a phone that advertised both crack and heroin for sale, and that he was available “24 hours”.
Khan, of Holybrook Gardens, Bradford, gave a no-comment interview to police.
Prosecutor Hollie Alcock said Khan had taken over the property in Wakefield.
He admitted two counts of being concerned in the supply of Class A drugs, supplying Class A drugs and acquiring criminal property.
A probation report found that he had accumulated a drug debt and needed to clear it.
Mitigating, Jeremy Barton said he had only been 20 at the time, that he was “genuinely remorseful” and “fearful” of going to prison.
But the judge, Recorder Ruwena Khan pointed out that he had been caught in possession of cannabis after the raid.
She said she was “troubled” by the circumstances, that Khan had taken over the flat.
Despite this, she handed him a three-year sentence, suspended for three years, and ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work and 20 rehabilitation days.
Previously, the maximum sentence that could be suspended was two years. But under relaxed laws that came into force in March, this was increased to three, to ease the overcrowding of prisons.