POLICE had to rescue a cocaine addict who was put to work in a crack factory and allowed to help himself to the drug, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Officers had to break down the door to rescue Abdul Aziz after someone was heard screaming for an ambulance.

Aziz, a university educated surveyor, made himself very ill when his underworld bosses locked him in the drug den in Dobb Kiln Lane, Bingley, and ordered him to wash cocaine for production into crack cocaine.

The police seized almost half a kilo of high purity cocaine from the flat, along with £35,000 in cash, prosecutor Carmel Pearson told the court.

Aziz, 30, of Lingwood Road, Girlington, Bradford, pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to supply, production of crack cocaine, possession of crack cocaine with intent and possession of the money as criminal property.

He was spared an immediate prison sentence by Judge David Hatton QC after he heard that Aziz turned to drugs when he was slashed across the face, leaving him scarred for life.

It was stated at an earlier hearing that the wound needed 76 stitches and the assailant was never caught.

Miss Pearson said the police rescued Aziz from the locked flat on April 19 last year.

Officers discovered £9,600 of cocaine in a carrier bag and a further £15,525 of the drug, of 73 per cent purity, in the fridge.

They also found £34,965 in cash.

Aziz told them he had run up a £2,000 drug debt and had been put to work to produce crack cocaine.

“He was obviously trusted with a large amount of cash and drugs,” Miss Pearson said.

Aziz’s barrister, Andrew Dallas, handed in character references from a boxing gym and members of the defendant’s family.

Mr Dallas said it was a tragic tale of a sorry decline.

Aziz had been training to be a quantity surveyor with a major construction company when things went badly wrong for him.

In 2014, he was attacked and left with a scar right down the middle of his face. The assault, that was nothing to do with drugs, left him with psychological problems that led to his addiction to Class A drugs.

“Cocaine has a relatively short-lived effect and the money piles up,” Mr Dallas said.

Aziz was in a very bad state when the police broke into the flat.

“A really serious cocaine addict was put to work in an environment with all that cocaine around him,” Mr Dallas told the court.

“He was given free drugs and a roof over his head, although a very dangerous roof to live under.”

Mr Dallas continued: “He may have thought at the time that he had some street credibility but he was just another worker for those that avoid justice.”

Judge Hatton sentenced Aziz to two years imprisonment, suspended for two years, with 240 hours of unpaid work, a six month curfew order and a rehabilitation activity requirement.

He told him: “From the moment you were arrested, you admitted your part in this enterprise. You were arrested in very unusual circumstances, when the police broke into the property to rescue you.”

Judge Hatton said Aziz had sought professional help with his addiction and had been assessed by the probation service as being of very low risk of reoffending.

He turned to cocaine after suffering very significant trauma, through no fault of his own and unrelated to drugs.

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