A drug dealer who was freed from jail on day release failed to return for nearly six months.
Christopher Cheyney racked up a cocaine debt while serving his sentence in an open prison, and went on the run having apparently been put under pressure to smuggle illicit substances inside in order to pay off these monies.
Liverpool Crown Court heard this afternoon that the 36-year-old, of Conleach Road in Speke, had been serving a 54-month stretch for drug offences at HMP Kirkham in Lancashire when he was allowed out on day release on June 27 2022. But Christopher Taylor, prosecuting, described how he failed to return and was not apprehended until he was arrested at an address on Lime Street in Liverpool city centre on January 23 this year.
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Anthony O'Donohoe, defending, told the court: "In essence, it is a sad fact of life that drugs are readily available in custody. Those who are privileged with day release are put under certain pressures.
"The defendant's record indicates that he is a man who, over the years, has been a drug user. Very sadly, while serving this sentence he relapsed into cocaine use and he developed a debt to those inside in relation to the cocaine he was taking while in Kirkham.
"On the day in question when he absconded, he was faced with three options - to return to prison without a package of class A drugs and face the consequences, to commit a very serious offence of conveying class A drugs into prison or to not go back to prison. It was not a clever move by any stretch of the imagination, but that's the option he took.
"He tells me that on one occasion he attended Belle Vale Police Station and informed the individual at the desk why he was there. He waited for two hours and no one came to see him, and his resolve weakened and he left.
"He was tired of living on the run and he didn't want to bring trouble to the door of his partner. He tells me he has become drug free and realises it is drugs that have got him in trouble.
"There is room for optimism on his release. He has a stable family life and has a prospect of employment.
"He simply did it out of fear because he wasn't prepared to take contraband into prison, but didn't want to face the consequences of not doing so. He took a Hobson's choice almost, and stayed at large."
Cheyney admitted being a temporarily released prisoner unlawfully at large. Appearing via video link to HMP Altcourse wearing a black Berghaus fleece, the dad - who has previously worked as a stage fitter - was handed an additional eight months behind bars.
Sentencing, Recorder Jeremy Lasker said: "You are no stranger to the criminal justice system. You are mature enough and experienced enough really to know your way around the courts and the prison system.
"It is to your credit that you gave yourself up. I can well understand that life on the run is not an easy thing and you are constantly looking over your shoulder.
"The other side of the coin is there is an element of deterrent in stopping other prisoners given day release simply to decide not to come back. I am prepared to accept that there is a reason for you not coming back on the day in question, but on the other hand the fact that you were using cocaine doesn't do you much credit."
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