Selby drug dealer gets chance to go straight (From York Press)

Selby drug dealer John Glover gets chance to go straight

9:13am Monday 20th February 2012 in Selby & Tadcaster By Megi Rychlikova, megi.rychlikova@thepress.co.uk

A Selby drug dealer caught red-handed with nearly £800 of his illegal stock has the chance to live a law-abiding life out of prison, thanks to the friend that gave him a bed and paid off some of his debts.

John James Glover, 27, almost cried in the dock of York Crown Court as he was sentenced. He had sold drugs in the town for weeks before police stopped the car in which he was transporting amphetamine in Scott Road.

But instead of making him serve a nine-month prison sentence, the Recorder of York, Judge Stephen Ashurst suspended the jail term for two years after hearing how Stephen Fitzpatrick, a 53-year-old Selby resident with a sick 61-year-old wife, had taken Glover into his family and given him accommodation.

Glover’s solicitor, Damien Morrison, said: “Mr Fitzpatrick has discharged £450 of drug debts in respect of this young man to give him a head start and a breathing space in which he can reassess himself and get a fresh start.”

The judge said: “There is an opportunity for you to break the cycle and not become involved in crime with the help you are being offered and the support you are getting.

“He is investing a lot of time and trouble in steering you away from crime. You are very much being put on trust today – don’t let everyone down.”

The suspension is conditional on Glover doing two years’ supervision and a ten-hour daily curfew for four months and not committing any more offences.

Glover, of Woodville Terrace, Selby, pleaded guilty to possessing amphetamine with intent and possessing cannabis resin and cannabis leaf for his own use.

Prosecutor Alan Mitcheson said when arrested, Glover had 79.2g of amphetamine paste worth £790 in street deals, electronic scales, a list of drug debts and a mobile phone with hundreds of messages left by drug users wanting to buy cannabis.

Some of the messages referred to amphetamine. He also had small amounts of cannabis resin and cannabis leaf.