A drug dealer broke down in court as he was sentenced to prison over his involvement in the supply of cocaine and MDMA.
Liam Harrison told the judge through tears "he couldn't stop himself" after he was caught with £3,500 worth of drugs, just a few months after losing his job as an accountant. The 26-year-old pleaded guilty to two counts of possession with intent to supply class A and possession of class B at Liverpool Crown Court yesterday.
According to the Liverpool Echo, police were patrolling Queensway, Waterloo, at roughly 3.45pm on August 11 last year when they spotted Harrison riding a bike with a large bag. When he tried to hide from officers behind a gate, they searched him and discovered 11 wraps of white powder and £260 cash.
He was arrested and a search warrant was granted for his property on Brunswick Parade. Here, investigators found other items relating to drug use, including bags of cocaine and a large plastic bag of 355 MDMA pills worth up to £3,500.
Mr Whitehead, defending, said Harrison had suffered a traumatic event as a child which caused him to turn to drugs. A few months before his arrest, he lost his accounting job as a result of his addiction.
He said: "The defendant is a man of previous good character, a man of ability, good education, good work record, and determine to rebuild his life when this proceeding is over.
"You can understand why his personal tragedies caused him to become a user of drugs. From his own admission he became highly addicted to class A, he built up debts, and he was working his drug debt off by selling class A drugs."
He said Harrison was no longer a drug user and had sought help to overcome his addiction.
Addressing Harrison, Judge David Hale said: "You have had a good education, you have got lots of qualifications, you have worked, you have a doting mother and a family. And here you are having pleaded guilty to possessing, dealing with cocaine, and having 355 ecstasy tablets. You know perfectly well, and knew perfectly well throughout, that if you got caught you would go down, and yet you went on doing it."
When asked why he had become involved in drug dealing, Harrison replied: "I couldn't stop. I couldn't stop myself."
But Judge Hale said: "You chose not to stop. You have shown you can stop. You didn't stop though, and you know the misery that this stuff causes. The profits that some people are raking in on it. An yet you are playing your part, knowing every day that if the roof fell in, your mother would be devastated, and your life would be."
Harrison was sentenced to 28 months in prison.
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