Couple sent by drug lords to peddle heroin & crack cocaine on Blackpool's Golden Mile face judge in court

A couple sent by drug chiefs to peddle heroin and crack cocaine on the streets of Blackpool have been spared jail by a judge.

Ex-soldier David Stannard and former partner Stephanie Ashton both pleaded guilty to being concerned with the supply of the Class A drugs and were given suspended prison sentences instead of immediate custody.

Preston Crown Court was told the pair took their instructions from dealers higher up the chain in Manchester as they sold wraps to addicts on the Golden Mile.

They were rumbled when plain clothes police spotted them making a sale and pounced on their car to find supplies of heroin and crack in the glove compartment.

Officers also found a Japanese Ninja dagger in the vehicle.

The court heard Stannard, 65, of no fixed address, was in the driving seat of the blue Renault Clio and 43-year-old Ashton in the front passenger seat.

When the vehicle was stopped Stannard immediately pointed to the glove box and told police: "It's all in there. It's all mine."

A hotel key was also found in the car and a search of the couple's room unearthed more snap bags of drugs.

Phone sim cards found in the vehicle were examined and found to contain messages from someone called "Curly" in Manchester directing the pair to sell drugs to users in Blackpool. They were told where to go, when and who to sell to.

The court was told the drug haul recovered was "not a huge amount" but it was clear they were making a decent amount of money from sales.

Stannard pleaded guilty to possessing the bladed weapon, although he claimed it was not his and belonged to "Curly".

He admitted he had chosen to sell the drugs "for a friend". He claimed he had been in a relationship with Ashton, but she hadn't been involved in the drug sales.

Barrister Kim Obrusik, for Stannard, said her client had spent the past five months in custody on remand. And had become a trusted prisoner in jail, helping other inmates as a "buddy support worker".

He was a former soldier who had spent nine years in the armed forces, three-and-a-half years of which he had served in Northern Ireland.

Julie Taylor, representing Ashton, of Henson Avenue, Blackpool, said her client was "clearly a very vulnerable woman". A report prepared by the probation service recommended she should be given a chance.

Judge Hodgkinson said the couple had been supplying Class A drugs on the streets of Blackpool and working at the behest of others higher up the chain.

He said Ashton had had a difficult life but had been "quite clearly dealing to members of the public on the street, directed by others".

"You are clearly a vulnerable individual who has had a difficult and traumatic life." She also had a partner who was seriously ill.

He felt there was a possibility of rehabilitation in her case and so sentenced her to a total of 14 months in prison suspended for two years. But he warned her that if she breached the conditions of that sentence she would be back in court and probably go to prison.

The judge said Stannard had a bad police record, but he felt his service to his country over nine years in the armed forces was a mitigating factor. That service, he added, had had a "significant effect" on the sentence he passed.

He gave him a two-year prison sentence suspended for two years for the drugs offences and one month for possessing the knife to run concurrently.

And he told them: "I wish you both the very best of luck. Please seize this opportunity."