Teenager caught dealing deadly drugs in Wakefield avoids custody after mending his ways
A young man caught selling heroin and crack cocaine has avoided custody after persuading a judge he had turned his life around.
Aaron Tiffin has since moved away from the area and the “bad crowd” he was involved with, Leeds Crown Court heard this week.
Now 21, he was told by the judge that people who deal in Class A drugs can expect to go to prison, but was given a lifeline with a suspended sentence.
Prosecutor David McGonigal said police had suspected the occupants of an Audi A5 were selling drugs on the Eastmoor estate in Wakefield on the evening of August 2, 2023.
Pulling the car over on Dent Drive, Tiffin was a passenger. He was only 18 at the time and tried to struggle with officers wanting to search him.
They eventually found 66 wraps of heroin and crack cocaine worth £650. They also found £200 in cash in the pocket of the door behind Tiffin.
The driver was given a suspended sentence in February of last year, but Tiffin failed to show up for court, having moved to Chesterfield in Derbyshire.
A warrant was put out for his arrest and he was arrested in November last year.
Tiffin, of Shakespeare Street, Holmewood, Chesterfield, has no previous convictions.
Mitigating, Christine Egerton said Tiffin did not intentionally avoid justice and had moved to Derbyshire before being summoned to court by postal requisition.
She said as soon as he realised he was wanted, he complied.
Ms Egerton described him as a “polite and well-mannered young man” who had “got involved with the wrong crowd”.
She said he had run up his own debt because of his cannabis use and was put to work selling drugs.
Ms Egerton added: “He bitterly regrets what he did. He knows he is in a serious position, he has made efforts to turn his life around.”
Judge Penelope Belcher opted to give him a two-year sentence, suspended for two years - the maximum sentence that can be suspended.
He was also given 20 rehabilitation days with probation with 200 hours of unpaid work.