Spice dealer escapes jail sentence so he can care for 5 children
MAN IS ONE OF FIRST PEOPLE TO FACE COURT ACTION FOR SELLING FORMER ‘LEGAL HIGH’
A SPICE dealer who was caught peddling the drug in Piccadilly Gardens was spared jail after a judge heard he has five children to look after.
Nicholas Dodd, 27, was handed a suspended sentence when his defence team argued he was ‘remorseful’, now has a settled home and youngsters to care for. He was, however, banned from Manchester city centre for two years.
Dodd was caught selling Spice in broad daylight in Piccadilly Gardens, an area plagued by the drug in recent times.
Now Dodd, of Edge Lane, Oldham, risks jail if he enters the area bordered by Manchester’s inner ring road at any point in the next two years.
In recent months dealers in the city centre area have switched from selling cannabis to Spice – cashing in on a surge in black market demand among the homeless. Spice was designed as a legal drug which would mimic the effects of cannabis, and was freely available from ‘head shops’ until it was banned around a year ago.
It is known to induce unpredictable reactions in users – from violence to zombie-like states. But its cheap potency has made it popular inside jails, and with people begging on the streets of the city centre.
A Manchester Crown Court sentencing heard Dodd had 36g of Spice on him when police walking through Piccadilly Gardens saw him acting suspiciously among a group of rough sleepers at 12.30pm on a Saturday.
When he was searched he was found to have ten snapbags of the drug in a ‘ manbag’, and a small quantity of cannabis for personal use. He later admitted possessing Spice with intent to supply and possessing cannabis.
But he was spared jail after telling the court he had turned his life around since the September 17 offence – and had five children to look after.
He was given a 12-month sentence, suspended for two years, a 20-day rehabilitation course and a three-month curfew. A two-year criminal behaviour order also bans him from entering the city centre.
Prosecutor Simon Barrett told court : “This is one of the first prosecutions involving Spice, others are going through the system.
“Police were in Piccadilly Gardens under Operation Mandera, to tackle dealing which is having a great effect on the community.”
Dodd says he was homeless himself and had been ‘intimidated’ by others into selling it.
Joe Rawlings, Dodd’s solicitor, said: “He’s come some way now, he’s no longer a member of the homeless community in Manchester, he has children and a settled address in Oldham.”
Sentencing, Judge Jinder Singh Boora said offences like these called for ‘deterrent’ sentences, although he accepted that Dodd was ‘remorseful’ and had been ‘vulnerable’ at the time.
The judge added: “I’m told you now have five children in your care – that means I need to be very careful before passing a sentence of custody.”
Insp Phil Spurgeon, of GMP’s City Centre team, said after the hearing: “Criminal Behaviour Orders, supported by impact statements from the community, are key to this as they ban dealers from the city.
“I would like to thank the community for their on-going support with this challenging issue.”