A drug dealer dad caught with crack cocaine and heroin for dealing on the streets of Warrington has been jailed for three years.
Liverpool Crown Court heard yesterday, Tuesday, that the offences occurred while Nathan Duckworth was on bail for possessing an offensive weapon, for which he has since been fined.
Alaric Walmsley, prosecuting, said that on the afternoon of February 9 this year Duckworth was seen by police engaging in a “hand-to-hand exchange” of drugs with another male on Barbauld Street in Warrington.
He was searched and found with a black Samsung mobile phone, and a further phone described as a “burner phone”. In his left side pocket, police found heroin and crack cocaine in plastic bags,£20 cash and a “Nathan’s to-do list”.
He was arrested and interviewed and said the drugs were for personal use and had cost him £200.
Duckworth claimed the £20 was for a haircut and the phones belonged to someone else but would not name that person and did not give the pin, said Mr Walmsley.
The cocaine, if split into £10 street deals, had a street value of £1,300 and the heroin had a potential value of up to £460. The phone had messages consistent with advertising and supply of Class A drugs to over 100 contacts, he said.
Duckworth, of Denver Drive, Great Sankey, pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing heroin and cocaine with intent to supply.
The court heard that he has 12 previous convictions for 18 offences, two of which were for drugs possession but none for dealing.
Phillip Tully, defending, said, “He accepts now through me that he had the drugs and the phone in his possession as part of a street dealing operation”.
He has a long history of drug abuse and was using drugs at the time. He is genuinely remorseful and ashamed of the upset he has caused his parents because of these convictions.
“He is a dad and wants to have contact with his children in the future.”
Judge Brian Cummings, KC told the defendant, “I observe that there is a certain frankness about you that I appreciate and in terms of what you have said to the probation service.”
