Peterborough drug dealer's tears as he avoids stretch behind bars

A Peterborough drug dealer cried in the dock as he avoided a spell behind bars.

Mohammad Faizan Mazhar was caught by police dealing crack cocaine and heroin in Peterborough in August and September last year.

Peterborough Crown Court heard how police linked the 21-year-old to a phone number which was behind the supply of the highly addictive class A drugs.

The court was told he fell into dealing after losing his job because he overslept while his parents were out of the country for a month – and rather than tell them, he decided to earn some money selling the drugs.

But he avoided being sent to prison, after the court was told there was a low risk of him committing further offences.

Shona Probert, prosecuting, told the court a warrant was executed by police at Mazhar’s home in Northfield Road on September 13.

Messages linked to his phone referenced undercover police operations and the supply of the drugs.

Mazhar pleaded guilty to two counts of being concerned in the supply of class A drugs.

Natalie Turner, defending, said Mazhar had initially been given drugs worth around £500, and told he would be able to keep £150 of the profits.

She said: “He realised he didn’t want to continue, and flushed items down the toilet and gave the money back.”

Ms Turner also told the court Mazhar would be vulnerable to exploitation and bullying in prison.

She said: “Unpaid work would be more productive than sending him to custody.”

Recorder Julie Cooper, sentencing, told Mazhar, who was seen wiping tears from his eyes on a number of occasions during the hearing, that ‘drugs can and do wreck lives, and they can and do kill people.”

However, because of his guilty plea, lack of previous convictions and vulnerability, she could suspend the prison sentence she imposed.

Mazhar was given a two year prison sentence, suspended for two years, and was ordered to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work. He was also ordered to pay £200 costs and a £187 victim surcharge.