A dealer who claimed he sold drugs as a "hobby" to "pass the time" has been spared jail.
Stephen Hailstone was caught when police, who were investigating an unrelated disturbance, discovered a cocktail of narcotics at his home, including cocaine, amphetamines and cannabis.
A court heard he initially denied dealing but then admitted having been doing so for around three weeks, telling police: "I've been doing little bits. I'm in that flat all day trying to get by and it's like a hobby, something to pass the time." Now the 42-year-old, who had stayed out of trouble for 20 years, has been given a suspended prison sentence at Newcastle Crown Court.
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It was in June 2020 that police went to his then-home in Boldon Colliery. They found 5.7g of cocaine, four cannabis plants, 8.66g of amphetamine and more than 900 tablets of two different class C drugs, along with hundreds of snap bags. Hailstone said he had only made around £100 from selling the drugs, which prosecutors accepted.
He pleaded guilty to possessing cocaine and the class C drugs with intent to supply, possessing amphetamine and producing cannabis. He was sentenced to two years suspended for two years with a three month curfew and rehabilitation.
Recorder Christopher Rose told him: "You must be under no illusions how close you have come today to going to custody. The offences you have admitted are extremely serious."
The court heard Hailstone, of Chilton Street, Sunderland, has ten previous convictions, including possessing amphetamine with intent to supply in 1988. However his last conviction was in 2000.
Jessica Slaughter, defending, said Hailstone had been a hard-working scaffolder until he was attacked by masked men during a raid in his own home in 2016 in front of his children. She said he was stabbed in the leg, had a knife held to his throat, was told his throat would have been slit if his children were not there and had a large amount of property stolen. Miss Slaughter added: "He was unable to work afterwards."
She said his teenage children live with him at weekends and he helps a vulnerable member of the community. She added: "He has expressed remorse and regret for his actions."
