A judge made a deal with a former drug dealer: "Stay out of trouble and you won't go to jail."
Jerome Bowyer was caught with heroin and crack cocaine and arrested and charged in 2018, Bristol Crown Court heard.
But after postal mix-ups he did not appear before a court for sentence until yesterday (Wednesday, June 10)
Bowyer, formerly of Lower Station Road in Staple Hill but now living in Gloucester, pleaded guilty to possessing Class A drugs heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply as well as acquiring criminal property.
Judge Martin Picton told him: "The normal disposal for people caught selling drugs is immediate custody.
"Two years down the line from the errors of judgement you made when you sold drugs back then, your life has changed since that time and I want clear evidence of that.
"Over the next six months if you stay out of trouble, try to get work and commit to a life away from drugs and offending it would allow me to take a course that would otherwise not be the usual one to take."
Bowyer agreed with the terms.
The judge added: "That's the deal we have.
"You've got to make a success of this."
He deferred sentence until December 9.
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The court heard police concerned about drug dealing in Redcliffe spotted a known drug user and saw Bowyer coming out of a property.
He was found to have a quantity of cash as well as eight wraps of 83 per cent pure crack cocaine and 10 wraps of 51 per cent pure heroin.
He made no comment when interviewed.
The court heard in the two years that had elapsed he had turned his life around and not re-offended.
