A drug dealer who would travel from Liverpool to Hull could have been a professional footballer but "squandered" his chance of reaching professional status in the sport.
The talented athlete Kurtis Mackie was found out after an eagle-eyed undercover police officer saw him in the middle of a "huddle" of drug users in a park that was well-known to police as a meeting place for drug dealing. Mackie had failed to learn his lesson after he was previously locked up for similar drug offences, Hull Crown Court heard.
The 26-year-old admitted to possessing heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply on October 9, 2019. Andrew Patterson, prosecuting, said that Mackie travelled from his home in Liverpool to Hull and stayed overnight there before cutting up stashes of heroin and crack cocaine into smaller amounts before selling them on the streets, Hull Live reports.
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He had a knife with him and a mobile phone, which revealed evidence of drug dealing messages. Mackie advertised that the drugs were available to buy and went to Massey Close to sell them but was spotted by undercover police, who realised what was going on. He had heroin with a street value of £170 and crack cocaine worth £270 as well as £17 cash.
Recorder Marco Giuliani said: "It was fortunate that local police officers in plain clothes recognised drug users who were clearly waiting to meet a dealer and that dealer was you. You formed a huddle."
Police went into the park area from two directions and shouted: "Stop, police." Mackie tried to escape into a garden and threw the drugs away but was quickly arrested.
Mackie had, as a youth, been sent to a young offenders' institution for two-and-a-half years in 2015 for possessing heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply. He had been given suspended sentences for affray and dangerous driving.
Alaric Walmsley, mitigating, said that Mackie had not committed any further offences for nearly three years and had been working as a packer. He pleaded guilty at an early stage.
Recorder Giuliani said that Mackie could at one stage have become a professional footballer, although not in the Premier League, but he had "squandered" that chance.
"He had travelled some considerable distance from his home in Liverpool to Hull to sell drugs to drug users," said Recorder Giuliani. "Those that sell Class A drugs on the streets, there is only one sentence that a court can impose."
Mackie, of Marsden Road, Halewood, was jailed for three years and the £17 cash found on him will be forfeited.
