A Liverpool man who walked into a police station and confessed to being a drug dealer has been spared an immediate prison sentence. Liam Wynn, 41, of Maxton Road in Kensington, entered St Anne Street Police Station on July 2 this year and told officers: "I'm a drug dealer and I've got drugs at my house."
Wynn gave police permission to search his home, where they found 75g of heroin worth between £3,000 and £4,500, and 36g of crack cocaine worth between £2,900 and £3,600 on his bed. Officers also discovered weighing scales, bags and 319g of caffeine used as an adulterant to make the drugs go further.
Unprecedented case
At Liverpool Crown Court on Thursday, October 22, prosecutor Iain Criddle described the case as "unprecedented." He said: "He was interviewed, and in interview he admitted buying drugs and selling them on. He went further. Yes, he said, he had been supplying drugs since December, which was information the prosecution simply would not have had.
"He said that the money that he made was passed to others and he made very little, and the prosecution takes no issue at all with this assertion. He was making a reasonably small amount of money and the real profits were going to others on the chain."
Wynn pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply heroin and crack cocaine. In a rare move, his counsel Julian Nutter asked him to take the stand in his own defence.
Remorse and family reasons
When asked why he had turned himself in, Wynn said: "My family is the main reason. I just need to change and get my family back together because there's a drug problem in my family and I'm making more problems. I need to help my sister and I can't help my sister when I'm supplying. It doesn't make sense.
"Now I know quite clearly what I'm doing to other families. Every time I've been here before saying 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry', I was probably only sorry I was before the court."
Wynn said he believed his remorse was genuine, and that he intended to live a law-abiding life once free, saying: "Whether it starts today or when I come home in X amount of time, it doesn't matter."
Mr Nutter, defending, said the case was "a conversion on the road to Damascus, on the face of it." He said: "None of this would have come to light without his walking into that police station and making a full and frank confession. It was a short confession initially, and he answered questions in interview.
"He's done everything in his power to lay bare to authorities the true nature of his guilt. That's wholly acceptable and supporting evidence of his assertions that he shows remorse."
Mr Nutter asked the judge to defer Wynn's sentence for a period of 12 months to give the 41-year-old the chance to prove his turn-around was genuine.
Exceptional sentence
Judge David Knifton said: "An exceptional case calls for an exceptional sentence, and that's what I'm going to pass."
Addressing Wynn, he said: "You are now 41 and you have 25 convictions for 47 offences. They are mostly theft and burglary offences, no doubt to finance your long-standing drug habits.
"You accepted full responsibility for your offending. You explained that you had been provided with the opportunity or made an offer to supply drugs at a time when you were under financial pressure. It appears during your last prison sentence you were led to believe you would be receiving inheritance from your grandfather which never materialised, and you were struggling.
"You were motivated by financial gain and made no suggestion that you were coerced into acting as you did.
"You previously were a cannabis user and also used class A drugs, but have not been using for a significant period. It appears seeing the effects of drugs on people close to you, you have had a conversion and decided the time had come to cease your involvement.
"You could have simply disposed of the drugs and no one would have been any the wiser. But instead you chose voluntarily to present yourself to the police, leading others on the chain to believe you had been arrested.
"Ordinarily I would have had no hesitation in deciding that, even with full credit for your guilty plea, nothing other than immediate custody would be justified. I accept you have come to court expecting that outcome. But this is a wholly exceptional case.
"In more than 20 years sitting as a judge, I have never come across anything like this. Your actions in reporting yourself to the police demonstrate real courage and commitment to put your offending behind you.
"I was impressed that you admit in the past, when you expressed remorse, effectively you were simply sorry that you had been caught. On this occasion, I accept that your remorse is genuine."
Judge Knifton sentenced Wynn to a three-year community order and 200 hours of unpaid work. He also handed down an electronic curfew.
