'You have not learned lesson' Grimsargh dealer's 'one man' drug business | Preston Crown Court
‘You have not learned your lesson’ Preston Crown Court hears the case of a Grimsargh man selling heroin on the streets of Preston.
A Preston drug dealer who was addicted to his own merchandise has been sent to prison for selling heroin on the streets of the city.
A judge was told Callum Jackson’s habit had left him with serious medical issues including a pronounced limp linked to his regular use of laughing gas.
After pleading guilty to possessing heroin with intent to supply the 27-year-old was jailed for a total of three-and-a-half years.
Sending him down, Judge Paul Hodgkinson told him: “You, more than anyone else, will know the damage that Class A drugs, particularly heroin, causes. It plays havoc with the health of those who become addicted.”
The court was told Jackson, from Grimsargh, set up a one-man business buying drugs and selling them at street level. Some he would keep for his own use and the rest he would offer for sale to other addicts he knew.
A police patrol spotted him driving a white van in Ringwood Road, in Deepdale, and stopped him. They found drugs in his jacket pocket and a bag with a total street value of around £170.
Judge Hodgkinson was told Jackson, of Hock Drive, Grimsargh, had previously served time in a young offender's establishment for possessing drugs with intent to supply.
Barrister Anthony Parkinson, defending, said his client had been “a heavy user” of Class A drugs and had paid a high price for that with his health.
“He struggles walking because of issues with his right leg due to nitrous oxide (laughing gas) use two years ago where he developed issues with his nerves.”
He said Jackson had a number of health problems caused by his excessive use of various drugs including heroin, cocaine and crack cocaine.
Some of the drugs he bought were for his own use and the rest were for sale. He had been largely supplying to people he knew on the streets. The money he raised would go on buying more drugs for sale.
“There wasn’t a chain, it was a one-man operation,” said Mr Parkinson. “There was no-one above him in the chain because there was no chain. There was no involvement of anyone else in this operation. He was just a low-level drug supplier.”
He added that Jackson would have been 18 or 19 when he committed his previous drugs offences.
“He has kept himself out of trouble since that last offence. He is still misusing drugs due to pain management and his addiction. But he is trying to put that right.”
Judge Hodgkinson told Jackson that after serving a previous prison sentence for drugs “you have not learned your lesson in 2018 when you were sent to youth custody for three years for dealing drugs on the streets.
“I know you are addicted to the drugs you were supplying and you suffer from poor health because of your drug addiction. I recognise you have tried to deal with your problems in the past, but unfortunately you weren’t able to deal with it sufficiently to stop you selling drugs.”
He was sentenced to 40 months in prison for possession with intent to supply heroin and a further 12 months to run concurrently on a second charge of possessing criminal property - £600 in cash found on him at the time of his arrest.