Addict dealer caught with drugs just hours after being sentenced in court

Karl Gareth Cockerill, 38, was given a community order on August 15, 2018, but was caught red handed when police visited his address on Starbeck Road in Wakefield later that day.

Leeds Crown Court was told yesterday, July 1, that police had visited the property looking for someone else, and when they looked through the window, spotted a cannabis grow tent.

Cockerill arrived at the property a short time later, and after initially giving them a false name, admitted who he was.

During the search that followed, they found three sets of scales, £400 in cash, over three ounces of cannabis, four plants, a machete, and small quantities of heroin, amphetamine and cocaine.

He told police they were for personal use.

Then a month later, on September 15, 2018, his van was involved in an accident and a Kinder Egg tub was found in the vehicle containing 0.2 oz of amphetamine.

Police searched his house again and this time found 2.8 oz of cannabis wrapped up, 1.2 oz and 2.7 oz in separate bags under the living room table and 0.2 oz on the table.

They also found four blocks of amphetamine weighing nearly 5 oz.

The cannabis was worth over £800, with the amphetamine worth over £4,450.

Claiming it was for personal use, when asked how he funded his habit without a job, he said it came from back payments of benefits and from selling a bike.

However, his bank details did not support his claims.

He admitted possession of cocaine, heroin, cannabis, producing cannabis, two counts of possessing amphetamine with an intent to supply, and possessing cannabis with an intent to supply.

A probation report found that Cockerill had a long-standing drug problem which spiralled as a youngster after his father was murdered.

He had been addicted to heroin, but was now on a methadone prescription and was working with the drug rehabilitation group, Turning Point.

Judge Robin Mairs said his dealing was consistent with his addiction, that he sold drugs to help feed his own habit.

He gave him a 10-month jail sentence, suspended for 12 months, and 100 hours of unpaid work.