Man jailed for 45 months following Burnley drugs arrest

Alan Ruddock, 20, was first apprehended by police in Leeds in June 2021 after being involved in a large public order incident.

Preston Crown Court heard how Ruddock was arrested and upon being searched was found to have multiple wraps of class A drugs in his socks.

Prosecuting, Paul Brookwell said: “Eighteen wraps of heroin were found with a street value of £92.50, and 14 wraps of cocaine with a street value of £140.”

Cash was also found and Ruddock admitted the offences of possession with intent to supply and was released on unconditional bail.

Alan Ruddock (Image: Lancs Police)

However, in January this year, Ruddock was caught in Burnley in the company three suspected drug users.

Mr Brookwell went on: “The defendant was seen by the police to be behaving suspiciously in Burnley.

“He was seen with three suspected drugs users in the Irene Street area, where police spotted him going down a back alley.

“Officers approached him, and he resisted arrest and tried to run. There was a foot chase and the police believed he threw some drugs away as well as a mobile phone. They were later recovered by officers.

“The mobile phone was examined, and drug related messages found on it advertising drugs, saying things like, ‘yo, it’s the best of both’.

“A small amount of heroin and crack cocaine was recovered – 0.6g of heroin and 0.5g of crack cocaine – as well as £306 in cash.”

The court heard that in July 2022, while on bail for the first offences, Ruddock had been handed a community order for possession of a machete and some cannabis, and it was while serving this order that he committed the second drugs offences.

In mitigation, his barrister said he had been selling the drugs to pay off a cannabis debt and that prior to these incidents had been a bright, intelligent young man with a promising future ahead of him.

It was heard how Ruddock, of Sandringham Court, Sandringham Drive, Leeds, had been studying at university and that his girlfriend had just given birth to their first child last year.

Recorder Andrew Nuttall said: “Over the last three years you have made some very poor decisions, others would describe them as criminal activity.

“You are an intelligent person and that makes it worse in some respects as you should know better.

“Drugs are a scourge of our times. They cause untold misery to people and deaths, and the courts will do whatever they can to assist in trying to stop people from committing these offences.”

Ruddock pleaded guilty to two counts of possession with intent to supply and two counts of being concerned in the supply of class A drugs and was jailed for three years and nine months.