A drug dealer caught red-handed with 19 bags of cocaine has walked free from court.
Jake Mitchell was pulled over by police in North Shields and found to have £780 of narcotics and three mobile phones. He told police he had started dealing to support his family after losing his job as a result of covid.
Mitchell was buying blocks of cocaine from a supplier and cutting them down into £40 deals, Newcastle Crown Court heard. Now the 24-year-old, of Wallsend, has been given a suspended prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to possessing cocaine with intent to supply on March 11 last year.
As well as the 19 deals, he had £180 cash and a smaller bag of cocaine in his wallet. Jessica Slaughter, prosecuting, said: "He made full admissions in interview and said the money seized from him was the proceeds of selling drugs.
"He confirmed the three mobile phones were his. He said there would be evidence on them of him dealing as that's how he communicated with people. He said he would contact his supplier on an encrypted app and his supplier arranged for another male to meet him in Longbenton. He would buy £750 of cocaine at a time.
"He said he would make £300 a week by doing this and had been doing so since he lost his job, in order to look after his family." Mitchell said he put the money he made through a friend's account but said the friend wasn't involved in the drugs operation.
Miss Slaughter said: "He said he was not being pressured to do it. he denied owing money to anyone." Mitchell, of Bowman Drive, Wallsend, admitted the charge in relation to the one day he was caught.
Recorder Mark Giuliani sentenced him to two years suspended for two years with 250 hours unpaid work and a nine month curfew.
The judge told him: "Class A drugs are dangerous. They cause crime in society as a whole. Class A drugs are a scourge in society.
"Those people who deal class A drugs ordinarily face immediate custody." Recorder Giuliani said he would suspend the sentence as locking him up would mean his partner, who he has a very young child with, might have to sell the family home and her mental health could suffer.
Jamie Adams, defending, said: "He is honest, he has got no criminal guile, he has not been trying to pull the wool over anyone's eyes. He is a decent human being and he has always contributed to the community he lives in.
"He is an honest man who should not be punished for his honesty. In saying what he did he showed what kind of person he is. This has been a salutary lesson for him."
Mitchell's partner told the court he supported her others through a family tragedy and she described him as reliable and trustworthy.
