Teenage dealer caught with £5,000 worth of cocaine 'struggled to get regular work'

Police pulled over a car in Pontefract on November 30 last year, in which James Maloney was sat in the passenger seat with three others in the car.

When they told the occupants they would conduct a search, 19-year-old Maloney tried to run but was quickly apprehended. He was found to be holding three packs of cocaine weighing over 50 grammes, worth around £5,000, and also had £1,298 in cash, prosecutor Jemima Stephenson told Leeds Crown Court.

They also found scales while a Nokia mobile phone was left on the passenger seat where Maloney was sat. Analysis found messages related to drug dealing.

Maloney, of Cottingley Springs, Gildersome, gave a no-comment interview to police, but later admitted two counts of being concerned in the supply of class A drugs and possession of criminal property.

Despite his young age, he has five previous convictions for 13 offences, but no drug-related offences. He was given six months in youth detention in March last year for possession of a bladed article.

Mitigating, Caroline Abraham said: "He was 18 at the time [of his latest offending] and he understands it will be an immediate custodial sentence.

"He has a poor record for someone of his age but it's a record largely of dishonesty and bladed articles in his youth. He has no like offences on his record against him.

"He has expressed some insight, that he struggled when he was released from custody to establish any regular work, and it's accompanied by his recent misuse of cocaine." She said that he was also possibly suffering from ADHD.

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Judge Kate Rayfield gave him three years' detention in a young offender institution and said: "You know there can only be once sentence when dealing in class A drugs out on the streets. You have a fairly bad record for your age but you have never been involved in drug dealing before."