Judge issues jail warning to dealer
Pre-sentence report does ‘not make happy reading’
A MAN caught with drugs while subject to a suspended prison sentence for dealing has a “mountain to climb” to stay out of jail.
Last August this newspaper reported how a Newbury drug dealer was caught selling cocaine in the town centre.
John McKinnon had been spotted on CCTV at the Parkway Shopping centre on June 19, 2021, putting cocaine on his hand and snorting it.
Prosecutors said the 25year-old was also seen putting something in a plant pot at the shopping centre.
A bag of cocaine with his fingerprints on was later found.
Prosecutor Shaan Sethi told the court at the time: “Some officers later found the defendant at Victoria Park in Newbury.
“He was found in possession of £250.”
Text messages on McKinnon’s phone showed he had been dealing for a number of months and that he had sold £550 worth of drugs in total.
He admitted possessing the Class A-controlled drug with intent to supply it.
McKinnon, of Burchell Road, also had nine previous convictions, many of them for drug possession.
The judge heard how McKinnon, who had racked up a drug debt of his own, was remorseful.
McKinnon was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for 18 months, and ordered to carry out 180 hours of unpaid community work.
But within weeks he was found in possession of cocaine again.
He admitted being caught with the drug on October 29 last year and was sent back to Reading Crown Court for sentencing.
On Friday, May 3, he duly appeared in back the dock.
Lily Hayes, defending, conceded that the pre-sentence report did “not make happy reading” for her client.
She admitted: “It suggests he has not engaged with or spoken to probation.
“The nature of the offence, committed so soon after the imposition of a suspended sentence means there’s an almost inevitable prison sentence.”
There had also been “poor compliance” with the unpaid community work requirement, the court heard.
Nevertheless, Ms Hayes said: “My application today is for an adjournment for a presentence report.”
She explained that McKinnon had missed probation appointments partly because of work pressures and partly through having to share in the care of his infant son.
Ms Hayes added: “This is someone who, on the face of it, hasn’t complied in any way.
“But he is willing to comply a great deal more.”
Ms Hayes said keeping McKinnon out of jail would be a “challenging mountain to climb”, but insisted there were issues that could be addressed that might lead to another suspended sentence.
The judge, Recorder Hamish Common, agreed to an adjournment to give McKinnon the opportunity of cooperating with a pre-sentence report this time.
But he warned: “The prospect of a disposal other than immediate custody is vanishingly thin.”
McKinnon was released on bail and the sentencing adjourned.
The prospect of a disposal other than immediate custody is vanishingly thin