Northern Ireland

West Belfast bricklayer spared prison for drug dealing over the delay in his case reaching court

A WEST Belfast bricklayer was today spared prison for drug dealing over the delay in his case reaching court.

Belfast Recorder Judge David McFarland told Odhrán MacAinnhire that as a result of the delay and his guilty plea he was suspending an 18 month prison sentence for two years.

The judge said no real explanation had been forthcoming as to why it had taken from 2015 until now for the case to come to court.

MacAinnhire (28) of Lagmore Downs in Dunmurry, had pleaded guilty at Belfast Crown Court to possession of Class B drugs with intent to supply and possession of a quantity of cocaine and diazepam tablets.

A Crown lawyer said that in June 2015 police observed a black BMW car and after making inquiries, the vehicle was linked to the defendant.

Officers then went to the defendant's home in Lisburn and seized £11,000 in cash along with 56 diazepam tablets, two bags of cocaine containing almost 14 grammes of cocaine, weighing scales and further drug bags.

At another address in the street, the lawyer said, a Toyota car was parked which police noticed had a "strong smell'' coming from it.

A key to the car was found in the defendant's home and when opened, police recovered 2.55kg of herbal cannabis in two plastic bags from the vehicle.

After forensic examination, the court heard that MacAinnhire's fingeprints were found on both bags.

The lawyer said police would describe the defendant as a "trusted individual by others who had given him possession of a significant quantity of drugs".

A defence lawyer said MacAinnhire's reward for storing the herbal cannabis was drugs to feed his own addiction, adding that the defendant had been drug free for the past year.