User allowed home to be used for line to flood town with drugs

He was one of four who appeared before Liverpool Crown Court to face justice over their role involving the supply of illegal and prescription drugs.

Leon Sherratt was charged with two counts of permitting a premises to be used for the supply of class A drugs, possession with intent to supply pregabalin, deschloroetizolam, flubromazepam and nitrazepam, and possession of amphetamine.

He was joined in the dock by 20-year-old Jack Cleary, who was convicted of possession with intent to supply cocaine and heroin and possessing criminal property.

Also up for sentence was Ryan Hollingsworth for two counts of possession with intent to supply cocaine, one of heroin, being concerned in the supply of cannabis, possessing cannabis and possessing criminal property.

While 64-year-old Terence McElroy was charged with supplying amphetamine.

Catherine Ellis, prosecuting, informed the court how Cheshire Police attended Sherratt’s home on Whitecross Road in Whitecross at around 12.30am in the early hours of February 3, 2022.

Inside was Sherratt, Hollinsworth and Cleary, as well as Matthew Addis, a friend of Sherratt’s who too was originally charged but died before the matter reached the courts, and a woman who was arrested but not charged.

When searched, Hollinsworth was found to be in possession of £620 in cash and a snap bag containing £20 worth of cannabis, while Sherratt was in possession of £5 worth of amphetamine, with both drug finds accepted to have been intended for personal use.

While searching the address, in the cabinet next to a double bed, officers found a plastic bag containing 36 wraps of heroin with a street value of £360 and three wraps of cocaine worth £30.

In a ‘man bag’ on top of the bed were eight blister packs of 75 pregabalin tablets, three packs of 42 deschloroetizolam tablets, three of 99 flubromazepam tablets and four of 40 nitrazepam tablets.

All are prescription medications and had a total potential street value of between £184 and £308, depending upon whether they were sold on as single tablets or in blister packs.

The court heard some of the tablets recovered were mislabelled, which was a matter of concern as flubromazepam is four times stronger than diazepam.

In a drawer of the cabinet next to the bed, 22.7g of amphetamine in a knotted sandwich type bag, of 13 per cent purity with a potential street value of £110 if divided into 22 street deals.

DNA on wrappings matched McElroy’s, leading to his arrest. In his police interview, he said he sold Sherratt half an ounce of amphetamine for £40.

In the pocket of a black North Face coat belonging to Cleary on the top of the bed, £590 in cash was recovered, while a bag of his clothes by the couch in the lounge also contained a BB gun.

An examination of the defendants’ mobile phones revealed that Sherratt was a user of amphetamine, cannabis and prescription medication.

He also sold prescription medications to a limited number of specific contacts in January and February of 2022 due to financial difficulties.

The quartet were sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court

Hollinsworth, aged 21, had been supplying class A drugs in Liverpool and mentioned an arrangement to go to Sherratt’s home and use it as a base for selling class A drugs in Warrington.

Cleary had sent a message to an unidentified number saying that he was ‘tryna set this line up’, which the prosecution said was him setting up a drug sales line in the town.

The court heard that sales of class A drugs had been ongoing for around five hours before police attended, with Sherratt’s role on that occasion limited to providing his home as a base.

He was in turn rewarded with drugs, and possibly goods, for permitting his premises to be used, with messages indicating he was very short of cash and out of prescription drugs.

Lists on Hollinsworth’s phone indicated he was working for cash and had handled more than £1,000, while the cash found on Hollinsworth and in the pocket of the coat on Sherratt’s bed represent the proceeds of class A drug sales.

Hollinsworth was also sentenced after being caught on CCTV dealing drugs in Liverpool City Centre on July 16, 2022 – while on bail for the Warrington matters.

Ms Ellis revealed that 39-year-old Sherratt has 18 previous convictions for 54 offences, the majority of which are for dishonesty, but nine for possessing cannabis and amphetamines.

McElroy meanwhile has 21 convictions for 39 offences, including 11 for drug possession offences between 1998 and 2014 and one for conveying drugs into a prison.

Hollingsworth has three for five, including one for possessing heroin, while Cleary has four for seven, of which three are drug related.

Sarah Griffin, defending Sherratt, said there was an element of vulnerability and her client being taken advantage of due to his ‘significant mental difficulties’.

On behalf of McElroy, Philip Tully commented that this was a one-off incident, and that his client has a good work record, but is not in good health.

Paul Wood, defending Hollingsworth, highlighted that he has a history of drug use and abuse, despite his young age, but he has grown up since and wants to be a role model for his young children.

While Steven Swift, mitigating for Cleary, said that his best point of mitigation is the long delay in the case which is of no fault to the defendant.

The case was presided over by recorder Mark Shepherd, who handed down a different sentence to each defendant.

Sherratt, of Whitecross Road, was given a two-year community order, including six months of drug rehabilitation, 20 rehabilitation days and a £200 fine.

A 12-month community order was handed down to McElroy, of Longshaw Street in Dallam, as well as 15 rehabilitation days and a £200 fine.

Hollingsworth, of Rufford Road in Liverpool, was locked up for 40 months, while Cleary, of Boyes Brow in Kirkby, was given 30 months in a young offender institution.

Orders were approved for the forfeiture and destruction of the drugs, mobile phones and the BB gun seized, and £1,220 in cash confiscated is to be donated to the court’s charity of the month.