A DEALER who told police he was on his way to deliver drugs to a customer when they stopped him has been given a suspended prison sentence.

Francis George Brockbank, 64, had cocaine, cannabis and £340 in drug money on him, said Brooke Morrison, prosecuting at York Crown Court.

They had stopped him because a member of the public had complained about him shouting and making threats in the street.

Brockbank, of Hull Road, York, pleaded guilty to having cocaine with intent to supply it to others and having cannabis with intent to supply it to others, both on the basis that he was acting under direction from someone else.

Judge Simon Hickey said he had received two letters from professionals at City of York Council social services stating that if Brockbank went to prison, it would have a “long-lasting effect” upon his son.

The long delay between arrest and court appearance meant Brockbank had been able to show he could stay out of trouble. 

Brockbank was given a two-year prison sentence suspended for two years on condition he does 20 days’ rehabilitative activities. The £340 money he had on him when arrested was confiscated as drug profits. Brockbank has 71 previous convictions.

Ms Morrison said police were responding to a call from the public about the street disturbance on December 14, 2021, when they came across Brockbank in Tedder Road, Acomb.

Because he appeared to be the person who had been shouting and making threats to an unknown person, they spoke to him.

He immediately told them he had drugs on him and at his home address and that he was en route to deliver drugs to a customer.

As officers spoke to him, his phone was constantly receiving phone calls.

Police arrested him and searched him and his home. They found drugs in both places. In total, they found 8.17g of cocaine and 48.99g of cannabis. He also had two phones.

When they analysed the phones they found no evidence of drug dealing. The prosecution accepted Brockbank’s assertion that he had recently received the phones.

Defence barrister Emily Hassell said she would not give any mitigation after the judge announced he would suspend the prison sentence.

The judge told Brockbank: “You were more of a cannabis dealer than you were a Class A dealer.”

Cocaine is a Class A drug, the most serious category of illegal drugs.

Brockbank was dealing under the direction of someone much higher up the drug supply chain and had been under coercion.

“If you get involved in drugs, that is what happens,” he told Brockbank.

The continual phone calls had been from Brockbank's "boss" wanting to know where his drugs were, said the judge.