Drug dealers avoid prison after 'proving they can stay out of trouble'

The men were caught with 28 cannabis plants



Two men convicted of growing and supplying cannabis have avoided jail after turning their lives around.

Jordan Bassett, 24, of Fred Lee Grove, Styvechale, and Sean McCabe, 22, of Red Lane, Foleshill, both pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to producing cannabis and supplying the drug.

But the pair avoided prison after the judge was convinced the men had proved they could “stay out of trouble” in the two years since their arrests.

McCabe was sentenced to 11 months in prison, suspended for 12 months, and Bassett was sentenced to 13 months, suspended for 12 months.

Sentencing the two, and ordering them to take part in a rehabilitation programme, Judge Sylvia de Bertodano told them: “I see people here on a regular basis whose lives have been ruined by the kind of cannabis you can produce these days.

“Mr Bassett, the most important thing in your life is your partner and your three children, and you are the one who stays at home and looks after them.

“You have stayed out of trouble, and have tried to put cannabis behind you.

“You Mr McCabe don’t have those responsibilities, and you had a more serious drugs habit.

“But you too have found that life has moved on, or been moved on by you, and you have good employment and are hoping it will get better still.

“I am not going to get in the way of two young men who have made a really serious mistake but have put it behind them. You’ve proved in the last two years you can stay out of trouble.”