Drug dealer shirked unpaid work
ADRUG dealer who repeatedly failed to turn up to do unpaid work has been jailed for 18 months.
Samee Ahmed, 23, of Steiner Street, Accrington, appeared at Burnley Crown Court accused of breaching an order imposed after being convicted of offences involving the supply of class A drugs and the possession of counterfeit currency.
Ahmed had previously been given a 20-month jail term, suspended for two years along with a community order requiring him to perform 200 hours of unpaid work.
A report from the probation service detailed that Ahmed had failed to turn up of seven of his last 10 appointments to fulfil his obligations to do work such as clearing litter and tidying up cemeteries and public parks.
The court heard that in the past few weeks Ahmed had not turned up to perform his duties on December 6, 10, 12, 14, 17, 18 and 19.
He had completed only 56 of the assigned 200 hours and had previously been given a ‘final chance’ when appearing for a similar breach when he had again only attended around a third of his probation appointments.
Defending Ahmed, Shufqat Khan, said: “He has not had a job for number of years but last week he was phoned up about a potential job in the build- ing trade and he prioritised that over his unpaid work.”
Asking Judge Jonathan Gibson for another chance to fulfil his obligations, Mr Khan said Ahmed ‘finds it abun- dantly clear that he needs to attend every session otherwise he knows he will go to jail’.
He told the judge that since his conviction his client had ‘kept out of trouble’ and added that ‘I tentatively suggest that the court give him one last opportunity’.
He said: “It will test his resolve. In the new year he will attend four sessions a week. Otherwise he will get his first taste of custody.”
Judge Gibson said: “It gives me no pleasure to send someone to jail who has never been in custody before but you have been given every opportunity and yet your ratio of attending only a third of appointments continues.
“You simply had to do your unpaid work.
“Your original sentence was one of 20 months and because of the 56 hours you have completed I will reduce that to a term of 18 months in prison. Send him down.”