A BRADFORD man has avoided jail for street drug dealing in the city.

Dennis Howard, 39, of Church Street, was found with cocaine that had a street value of £140 and had £17 worth of cannabis, the latter was for his own use, when he was stopped by a police officer.

The officer found the vehicle had a strong smell of cannabis. Drug paraphernalia was discovered in the Vauxhall Astra, as were containers of drugs in the door panels. Two boxes of needles and syringes were spotted in the boot of Howard’s car.

The officer asked Howard to get out of the car, he refused at first and then a struggle between them took place. Howard escaped but was later arrested and charged.

Howard tried to crush a blue Nokia mobile phone which contained messages showing evidence of drug dealing.

The offences took place on November 17, 2019.

In mitigation, Bradford Crown Court heard that Howard was only dealing drugs between October 22 and November 17, 2019, because his now ex-partner had run up a drugs debt. Howard was invited to deal drugs to help pay off this debt.

Howard was jailed for two years, suspended for two years, for the offences. He was also ordered to carry out 180 hours unpaid work in the community.

 

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