Drug dealer arrested after less than AN HOUR working in the trade
A drug addict 'persuaded' to sell cocaine and heroin after having his nose broken by a dealer has been locked up for more than three years.
Simon McTaggart had been involved in the trade for less than an hour when police swooped to arrest him in a park, a judge was told.
The 30-year-old, from Willenhall, got into trouble when he got hooked on cocaine and ran up a £600 debt that quickly rose to £1000 because he did not pay it off. When detained on April 22 he had a total of 40 £10 street deals of cocaine and heroin
McTaggart told Wolverhampton Crown Court: "I paid little bits for the drugs but got into debt which was increased because of the time I was taking to get the money.
"I ran up the debt while using drugs from August 2013 to October 2015. Then my mum and dad locked me in a room until they got me off the stuff."
The family moved home and the drug dealer did not catch up with McTaggart until April this year. The defendant explained: "I thought it had been written off because I had heard nothing until then.
"He asked me if I wanted to do a job out of town to work off the debt. I feel disgusted with myself that I agreed to do it but it was a lifeline, a way of getting me and my family back on track and stopping us living in danger."
McTaggart continued: "I got arrested the first time I did it. I was taken to Hereford and given a SIM card and phone on which I got calls telling me to give so and so this and that. I had been doing it for less than an hour when the police arrived."
He was too frightened to name the individual involved but revealed his nose had been broken by the person last year because he had not settled the debt.
Mr Geoffrey Dann, prosecuting, said: "The police officers who arrested him were acting on information. The location was being kept under observation."
McTaggart from Beccles Drive, Willenhall, pleaded guilty to possession of heroin and cocaine with intent to supply and was jailed for three years three months by Judge Nicholas Webb who said: "This was a significant dealing role even though you were performing the function under direction. You were reducing a debt you owed to the dealer."
