Judge gives drug addict dad chance to avoid prison

Kevin Brady appeared in court yesterday and admitted possessing heroin with intent to supply.

Brady was caught when an alert police officer spotted him in a phone box in Middlesbrough regularly used by dealers.

The 36-year-old was searched and found to have three wraps of heroin in his hand and a further 23 wraps in a miniature whisky bottle in his pocket.

Ian West, prosecuting, told Teesside Crown Court that Brady confessed to police that he sold the drugs to his friends.

The court heard how both Brady and his wife were users, but had kept their addiction from their family.

Mrs Brady worked and her husband used her pay and his benefits to buy their heroin in bulk to keep their costs down.

Mike Bosomworth, mitigating, told the court that Brady also sold to friends but made no money from the deals.

"This is not commercial dealing," said Mr Bosomworth. "It is not even street-level dealing.

"The remarkable thing about this family is that other than their heroin addiction they are entirely respectable."

Mr Bosomworth told the court that Brady had sought help from addiction workers since his arrest on June 1 last year.

"He spent two days in prison on remand which he found to be a shocking experience," the barrister said.

"On the second morning he was woken by a punch to the jaw from his cell-mate complaining about Mr Brady's snoring.

"Society would benefit from him being punished in the community rather than the expense of him being incarcarated."

Brady, of Farmcote Close, Hemlington, Middlesbrough, had his sentence deferred for six months by Judge Peter Bowers.

The judge told him: "I am not yet convinced I can go as far as imposing a suspended sentence.

"During the six months you must undergo some drug tests and at the end I need a progress report as to how you have co-operated.

"If you are not or if there is any other conviction in the meantime then I'm afraid you are looking at a period of about two years imprisonment."