Leeds dealer with 'factory of drugs' worth £7,000 claimed they were for personal use
A dealer caught with a “factory of drugs” including cannabis, cocaine, MDMA and amphetamine worth nearly £7,000 tried to convince police it was all for personal use.
Matthew McGarry eventually confessed to selling the drugs, but avoided custody after convincing the judge he had since turned his life around.
Prosecutor Jessica Lister told Leeds Crown Court that police were called on April 6, 2020 after reports of two men in masks carrying planks of wood were at the address on Pinder Street in Farnley.
When officers arrived they found the panels of the front door had been smashed and could see white powder on the floor, so they entered the property. Inside they found 20 grammes of amphetamine, a quantity of cocaine, 124 MDMA pills and a mix of dried cannabis and plants.
Having been arrested, McGarry maintained during his police interview that the drugs were all his, then gave no comments thereafter.
McGarry, of West Street, Wakefield, admitted dealing in MDMA, cannabis and amphetamine, producing cannabis and possession of cocaine.
He has no previous convictions but a caution for possession of ketamine.
Mitigating, Michael Walsh said McGarry had been “heavily involved in the use of drugs” and got himself into debt, forcing him to sell drugs to repay what he owed.
But he added: “Since that time, his life has changed out of all proportion. He is not associating with the people he was associating with at that time.
“He has a new partner and they have moved in together. He has moved away from the use of drugs and moved on with his life.”
He said McGarry now had a well-paid job at a canning manufacturer.
The judge, Recorder Aisha Wadoodi, said she was only just persuaded to spare him jail because of the progress he had made.
She said: “I had in mind to send you to prison for 30 months, but what your counsel has said makes reference to the fact you have completely turned your life around.
“Like many people, you accrued a debt and thought the only way to get out of that was to sell drugs yourself.”
She gave him 20 months’ jail, suspended for two years, and 200 hours of unpaid work.