A 30-year-old Limavady man with 210 previous criminal convictions was jailed for four years at Derry's Crown Court yesterday when he pleaded guilty to possessing 1,000 ecstasy tablets with a street value of £5,000 with intent to supply.
The court was told that Colin Robert Malcolmson, a father of three children aged 11, eight and four years, from Glenbeg Walk, was a courier rather than a drugs supplier.
A prosecution lawyer told Judge Corine Philpott QC that of Malcolmson's 210 previous convictions, only four were for drug-related offences.
He said Malcolmson was caught with the drugs in his possession after he was chased and apprehended by police officers in Roemill Road, Limavady, on February 9th of this year.
One month before his arrest, Malcolmson had been released from prison, where he had served almost four years of a five-year sentence after he was convicted of possessing, with intent to supply, 50,000 ecstasy tablets in Glasgow in June 2,000.
A defence lawyer said Malcolmson had been "involved in a wide canvas of anti-social behaviour. He seems largely undisciplined, and his involvement is as a courier rather than as a mastermind or planner.
"He is not very good at what he is doing because he keeps getting caught.
"In terms of operating as a drugs courier, there would certainly not appear to be any future for him."
Passing sentence, Judge Philpott said Malcolmson seemed to have substantial connections within the drugs trade.
"The use of drugs, both class A and class B, is common in this city.
"There have been cases were class A couriers or suppliers have come before me, and they have received what could be described as compassionate sentences.
"However they had a much smaller quantity of drugs, and I cannot overlook the quantity in this case.
"This man is obviously involved in the drugs trade, and is able to obtain substantial quantities either to deliver to someone else or to sell himself."
Judge Philpott ordered that the car driven by Malcolmson at the time of his arrest should be sold, and the proceeds be given to Women's Aid.
She also issued a destruction order for the drugs.