A drug dealer who was given a second chance by the courts is now facing a lengthy prison sentence after returning to his old ways.
Joshua Hamilton, of Calder Road, Everton, was given a 22-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, in September 2023 after being convicted of possession with intent to supply heroin. But the 23-year-old returned to his old habits just six months later when he was caught with 350 packets of Class A drugs.
He appeared at Liverpool Crown Court yesterday, May 30, where he pleaded guilty to two counts of possession with intent to supply Class A drugs. He also admitted violating the 2023 suspended sentence.
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This means he will have to serve the remainder of his suspended sentence behind bars, along with the sentence he receives for the new Class A drug charge.
Hamilton isn’t the only repeat offender who returned to a life of crime after being given a second chance by the legal system. Here are six other criminals who ended up behind bars after failing to make the most of the freedom to walk free.
Stephen McGinty
Stephen McGinty, of Lingholme Road, St Helens, was given numerous second chances by the courts before eventually ending up in prison after losing his temper in a kebab shop.
The judge threw the book at 48-year-old McGinty after he repeatedly squandered second chances by violating suspended sentences for numerous previous crimes. McGinty, who has 25 convictions for 44 past offences, was sentenced to six months in prison after drunkenly throwing food on the floor at 12.30pm on October 26, 2023, and striking a worker at the Captain Cook takeaway restaurant in Baldwin Street, St. Helens had screamed. .
Video footage taken on police bodycam as McGinty was arrested outside showed McGinty goading officers and saying, “Go ahead, hit you, you fucking idiot.” He then spat at one of the officers and was pushed to the ground. In the police car, he continued to be verbally abusive and called the officers homophobic slurs.
He pleaded guilty to common assault, assaulting an emergency worker and a public order offense for abuse.
James Dugan
Convicted murderer James Duggan was jailed after stealing Pringles and bottles of alcohol from a carvery after a drinking binge.
Duggan, formerly of School Lane, Liverpool City Centre, was jailed in April 2006 after being convicted of the 2004 murder of Rebecca Ryle in Perth, Australia. The 39-year-old, who had emigrated from Liverpool, had strangled the teenager in a park just three minutes from her home before dumping her half-naked body in a field.
He was deported back to Britain in 2022 and given a sexual risk order, which he immediately breached by failing to inform his offender manager of a relationship he had developed with a woman, whom he had also assaulted. He was jailed for 26 weeks and made subject to an indefinite notice requirement in January 2023.
After being released from this sentence in July last year, he was required to sign the sex offenders register within three days, but failed to do so. This led to him receiving a nine-month prison sentence in August 2023, suspended for two years.
But he again breached the terms of his order after entering the CookHouse Pub and Carvery in Rainhill on March 29, 2024, and stealing four bottles of whisky, four bottles of Sol lager and three tubes of Pringles. He was jailed for three months after pleading guilty. to burglary and violating a suspended sentence.
Ashley Grace
Former soldier Ashley Grace, 61, was given a suspended prison sentence in February 2018 after admitting possessing a “small number” of indecent images of children. He appeared again at Chester Crown Court on February 15, 2024, where he was sentenced to nine months in prison after failing to comply with an order requiring him to reveal the PIN of protected information.
Grace, from Hilltop in Runcorn, had previously pleaded guilty to making a category B image and a category C image, distributing a category B image and possessing nine indecent images.
Anthony Duncan, aka “Mossyjade”
Anthony Duncan, of Westmoreland Place in Vauxhall, traded hundreds of thousands of kilos of cocaine and cannabis under the username “MossyJade” on EncroChat. The 32-year-old used the encrypted network to supply 25kg of cocaine and 88kg of cannabis “on a commercial scale”.
In a search of his home on January 8, 2024, police found £30,000, a Tudor watch, three Rolex watches, designer clothes and “an assortment of weapons”.
Duncan, who was at the time serving a 12-month suspended sentence for possession of cannabis with intent to supply and money laundering, pleaded guilty to two charges of conspiracy to supply cocaine, conspiracy to supply cannabis, possession of criminal property and breaching a suspended sentence. order. He was sentenced to twelve years and eight months in prison.
James Blundell
Depraved pedophile James Blundell, 36, of Wesley Avenue in Haydock, raped and abused young boys after grooming them with money and sweets.
Blundell was previously given a 12-month prison sentence suspended for two years in 2016 after pleading guilty to attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity, attempting to engage in sexual activity in the presence of a child, distributing indecent images of children, possession of indecent images of children and three charges of making indecent images of children. He was also given a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years.
When he appeared again at Liverpool Crown Court on 31 March 2024, he admitted three charges of rape, two charges of attempted rape, three offenses of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, three charges of sexual activity in the presence of a child , engaging in sexual communication with a child, possessing indecent images of children, making indecent images of children, possessing an extreme pornographic image and two charges of breaching a sexual harm prevention order. He was sentenced to fourteen years and five months in prison and was given a driver’s license for another five years.
Michael Kelly
Ex-serviceman Michael Kelly was caught red-handed when patrolling police officers followed the smell of cannabis to his home on Stanley Road in Bootle on November 16, 2022. Inside they found evidence of a massive illegal drug operation, involving scales, packing equipment, plastic bags, cash and large quantities of drugs. 312 grams of cocaine with a value of between £11,700 and £28,000 were discovered, and 619 grams of cannabis with a street value of between £4,000 and £8,000.
Kelly, 36, had been given a suspended sentence in 2019 for dealing Class A drugs but had returned to crime after falling into financial difficulties.
He pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply class A and B drugs and was sentenced to a total of 40 months in prison.
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