Addict sold heroin to undercover cop

A drug addict who sold heroin to an undercover cop has been spared jail so he can have treatment for his addiction.
By The Newsroom
Published 8th Jul 2016, 10:52 BST
Updated 25th Aug 2016, 18:58 BST
Preston Crown CourtPreston Crown Court
Preston Crown Court

Rickford Vance-Carradice, 51, met the officer on the streets of Blackpool during a sting by Lancashire olice.

Vance-Carradice believed he was helping out a fellow addict when he sold him a wrap of heroin from his personal supply on December 12 last year, but five months later his flat was raided by officers executing a drugs warrant.

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Preston Crown Court heard Vance-Carradice, of Dickson Road, Blackpool, met the officer as he was leaving the Ladbrokes bookmakers in Dickson Road.

Recognising him from a previous occasion when they had both bought drugs from the same street dealer, Vance-Carradice phoned the dealer on behalf of the officer.

But when the dealer was unavailable, Vance-Carradice pulled three wraps of heroin, wrapped in a tissue, out of his pocket, and told the officer to take his pick.

The officer handed over £10 for a single wrap, but Vance-Carradice said if he had another £5 he could buy two for £15.

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On May 24, at the end of the operation, officers raided Vance-Carradice’s flat in Dixon Road.

He told them he had a small quantity of heroin, for his own use, in an ashtray on a windowsill.

He pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to supply and one count of simple possession of heroin. The court heard Vance-Carradice has a long standing drug addiction and a history of mental health problems.

Recorder Mukhtar Hussain QC, sentencing, said: “You will know from your own knowledge, if not the knowledge in the drugs community, because you have been addicted for a long period of time, that anyone involved in Class A drug supply clearly must goto prison, because these are serious offences and the effects of the supply of Class A drugs on the people they are supplied to and the community at large.

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“When people are addicted to drugs they resort to other criminal offences to fund their drug addiction.”

He handed Vance-Carradice a 20 month sentence suspended for two years with a 35 day rehabilitation activity requirement, a six month drug treatment order and £100 victim surcharge.