A MAN aged 21 caught with more than 100 wraps of Class A drugs on him had now got a four-year jail sentence hanging over him, a judge warned today.
In an unusual case, Mohammed Hanif was spared immediate custody for possession of heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply because the offences predated a suspended sentence order he was complying with for similar offending.
Prosecutor Philip Adams told Bradford Crown Court that Hanif, of Dawnay Road, Little Horton, Bradford, was the passenger in a car that was stopped by the police on May 11 last year.
He had £40 in cash on him and when he was taken into custody, he revealed a bag of Class A drugs.
Mr Adams said it contained 37 wraps of heroin and 67 wraps of crack cocaine with a street value of £1,040.
He made no comment when questioned and a phone recovered from the car had a contact list on it indicative of drug dealing.
Hanif pleaded guilty to two offences of possession of Class A drugs with intent to supply in Otley Road, Bradford.
His barrister, Christopher Styles, said that in February this year, he was given a two-year custodial sentence, suspended for two years, for similar offending in 2020.
He was not in breach of that order so it would be unjust to lock him up.
Mr Styles said that Hanif was the carer for his ill father who really needed him to be there to help him. He provided documentation to the court to prove that.
Judge Colin Burn told Hanif that if he committed any more offences to do with drugs, it wouldn’t be anyone’s fault but his own that he wouldn’t be there for his father.
In February, the court had not been informed that the second matters were coming through the system.
“It wouldn’t be right to trash that sentence and send you to prison today,” Judge Burn said.
He sentenced Hanif to two years imprisonment, suspended for two years, with 150 hours of unpaid work.
He warned him that he now had a four-year sentence hanging over him.
“You are extremely fortunate to be leaving the court by this door and not the other one,” Judge Burn said.
He warned Hanif he was ‘in the last chance saloon’ for this type of offending or the four years would just be the starting point.
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