A BELFAST father-of-three caught with almost £12,000 worth of cocaine in a taxi office has been handed a suspended sentence.
Mark Charles Black (42), with an address at a hostel in Utility Street, had pleaded guilty to possessing cocaine and possession with intent to supply.
Belfast Crown Court heard that police were called to the Fonacab office on the Ormeau Road in December 2016 after a man was spotted by a member of the public with a knife protruding from the back of his tracksuit trousers.
Prosecution lawyer Gareth Purvis said Black was also in the taxi office at the time and was searched by police and found to have two plastic bags containing cocaine worth between £7,000 and £11,250.
"It is accepted by the prosecution that the defendant was selling the drugs to his friends and was not doing it for commercial profit.''
Black had eight previous convictions, including one for possession of drugs and one for conspiracy to rob, and the court heard he had drug addiction issues.
Judge Geoffrey Miller suspended his determinate custodial sentence of 28 months for three years, saying he was "taking the exceptional course of action'' given the length of time the case had been hanging over his head, that he had not come to police attention since, and he was a carer one of his three children who had ongoing health problems.
