A CARELESS drug dealer was caught attempting to sell bags of Class A drugs directly under the watchful eye of a CCTV camera in Warrington town centre.

Jacob Maxted was spotted on the footage approaching complete strangers and trying to sell ‘significantly underweight’ bags of cocaine to passers-by in the early hours of the morning.

The defendant pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to supply cocaine at his sentencing at Liverpool Crown Court on Tuesday.

Prosecuting, Iain Criddle said the incident occurred at 3.20am on December 15, 2021.

Maxted, 26, was seen on CCTV ‘approaching a man’ and ‘offering bags of white powder to another man’ in the centre of Warrington.

Police were alerted to Maxted’s attempts to deal the class A drugs and appeared at the scene before detaining him.

When searched he was found with ‘one bag in hand’ and another 12 bags of cocaine in his pockets.

Mr Criddle highlighted that each of the bags were ‘significantly underweight’.

“The defendant said he was going to sell them for £20 each. They were not worth £20 each.”

“It was a very unsophisticated offence,” he added.

The courts heard how prior to this offence, Maxted had been an achieving athlete, playing handball for the Great Britain team and was also a keen rugby player.

Recorder, Mr Close added: “Someone with such potential and such career prospects.”

Mr Criddle said how the attempt to drug deal was for financial gain to fund his extensive cocaine habit.

Defending, Mr Jebb spoke of his clients reckless offending, saying: “It has landed him in hot water. Done in the most inept way for minimal financial reward.”

“Mr Maxted possesses no danger of risk to the public. Even with all this hanging over him he still has full time employment.”

Mr Jebb added that the defendant has had consistent employment since leaving school and had even gained accountant qualifications.

“He represented Great Britain at Handball. He has travelled abroad to play. He has returned to playing rugby again.”

During the time of the offence, the courts heard how Maxted had lost his grandmother and was ‘spending a significant amount of money to fund his expensive habit’.

Summarising he added: “A short lived unsophisticated and very brief period of offending.”

Concluding, Recorder Mr Close said: “The offence is extraordinarily serious. To traffic class A drugs is to traffic misery.

“One only needs to look at areas of towns that ravage in such dealings.

“The way in such you did so is extraordinarily inept. This was not pre-arranged deals. You were approaching people you did not know. You are dealing in broad daylight under CCTV.

“You life was going in the path that many would hope theirs would. At 3am you are struggling to fund your own habit. You present as a criminally naive young man.”

Despite his offending, Maxted, of Millfield Park, Golborne was determined as having a ‘lesser role’ in the act of possession with intent to supply and with no previous convictions also presenting as a mitigating factor he was instead handed a 20-month custodial sentence, suspended for 18 months.

He has also been ordered to work 250 hours of unpaid work alongside his full-time job, which The Recorder stated would be completed at weekends leaving him ‘no free time’.

Funds of £425 are also owed towards prosecution costs.