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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
National
Andrew Nuttall & Tom Duffy

Liverpool dealer 'relieved' after he was caught selling crack cocaine

A Liverpool drug dealer sold heroin and crack cocaine to an undercover police officer in North Wales.

Anfield crook Thomas Cleary, 22, sent out "flare messages" using a graft phone offering crack cocaine and heroin to drug users across North Wales.

When an undercover police officer called the line on February 16 Cleary arranged to meet her on a housing estate in Rhyl to make an exchange.

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For £25, she was given three wraps of heroin.

The officer made contact again a fortnight later and bought wraps of heroin and crack cocaine for another £25.

A third arrangement was made on March 13, where the cop met up with Cleary and sold her £10 worth of heroin.

Cleary appeared before a judge at Mold Crown Court yesterday (March 10) after admitting to possession of crack cocaine and heroin with intent to supply.

Prosecutor Myles Wilson, told the court how Cleary, of Celebration Drive in Liverpool, first came to the police's attention last spring.

Mr Wilson said that Cleary was arrested during a sting operation in Bangor about a month later on April 16.

There, he was found with more wraps of heroin and crack cocaine that were "hidden in his buttocks".

He also had £250 in cash as well as the graft phone that the officer had been communicating with him on.

This phone was linked to the "Cray Line" - known to be linked with County Lines dealing.

When interviewed by police, he told them he was addicted to the drugs he was selling.

Defending, Mr Quentin Neal, said these are "without doubt very serious offences" and his client understood jail was the most likely sentencing outcome.

He told the court Cleary has been making efforts to leave a criminal lifestyle behind since his arrest, adding that he was "unusually relieved" to have been arrested.

The defence added that Cleary had an "all too common story", claiming to be working for higher members of the County Lines gang in an effort to clear outstanding debts of £850 he had accrued.

Mold Crown Court, Mold, Flintshire. (Daily Post Wales)

However, he believed walking away from the gang after the debts were paid would have been an unlikely option, so his arrest had "freed him".

Judge Niclas Parry told Cleary that the least he could jail him for was 28 months.

He said: "You will know from personal experience the harm that Class A drugs cause. It is a particular problem in the area of North Wales in which you were dealing.

"People are suffering there, communities are being racked and people are committing crimes all because of drugs.

"You were prolific in your role of dealing for others who think North Wales is a soft touch, who think we can keep the money whilst Wales keeps the suffering.

"I accept you are truly remorseful since your arrest and you clearly have another side to your character."

The judge ordered for any drugs recovered to be destroyed

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