A MAN caught up in a major drug operation has received a suspended sentence more than four years after his original arrest.

Liam Bate was caught with a quarter of a kilo of 98 per cent pure cocaine, worth an estimated £75,000 by the time it had been ‘cut’ for distribution.

The 30-year-old was stopped by police on the A19 after visiting the Haswell Plough area of County Durham to pick up the Class A drug.

Teesside Crown Court heard how Bate was arrested in December 2015 but had to wait two years before being charged and a further two years while trials of his co-accused were completed.

When police searched his Hartlepool home, they discovered 23 cannabis plants in the loft – with an estimated street value of £5,900 – and £8,600 in cash stashed in a carrier bag.

The father-of-one wept in the dock when Judge Peter Armstrong sentenced him to two years in custody suspended for two years.

In mitigation, Rod Hunt, said the case had been hanging over his client’s head like the ‘sword of Damocles’ for more than four years.

“It is 2015 since this defendant was arrested, he was released on bail and then charged about two years later,” he said. “He attended court and pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.

“From his arrest until today, he has committed no further offences and led a law-abiding life, so when the question is asked about the prospect of rehabilitation, it has been proved that he is capable of it.”

Mr Hunt urged the judge to spare Bate from immediate custody and allow him to move on with his life as the risk of him re-offending were no existent.

Judge Armstrong said: “You were at the bottom end of the distribution of cocaine in the County Durham area that was going on at the time. Your job was to courier the drugs with the view to distribution.

“It was a high percentage of purity so it was high up the chain of it coming into this country.

“I’m satisfied that there are exceptional circumstances in this case because there was a significant delay. You had the good sense to plead guilty to possession with intent to supply.

Bate, of Tenby Walk, Throston, Hartlepool, was also sentenced to a concurrent suspended four-month sentence for possession of cannabis with intent to supply. He was also ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.