A COCAINE addict was preyed on to sell the drug by gang members and his mother was threatened with violence after he racked up a £10,000 debt.

William Robinson, now aged 24, was sentenced at Carlisle Crown Court more than three years after being arrested by police before the first Covid lockdown.

Robinson and a woman had been travelling in an Audi A3 on the city’s Georgian Way just before midnight on March 6, 2020.

The grounds for stopping their car were explained. “Officers noticed that during the search Mr Robinson appeared to be agitated and nervous,” said prosecutor Gerard Rogerson.

Robinson confirmed a discarded small black mobile phone found in the police van’s rear cage was his.

Quantities of cannabis were located in the Audi along with a piece of card containing details of a phone SIM. Wraps of cocaine potentially worth almost £500 were found when his then address in Wigton was searched.

As the phone was interrogated, a string of “text bomb” messages hinting at the advertisement of drugs for sale were found. The first, to 55 different numbers, stated: “New number for work phone.” A later message urged: “Get on us today.”

Robinson, previously of Currock Park Avenue, Carlisle, admitted possessing both cocaine and cannabis with intent to supply.

Defence lawyer Andrew Gurney told how Robinson began using drugs in his mid-teens before becoming addicted to cocaine aged 19.

“He ran up a considerable drug debt, approximately £10,000, to a local drugs gang,” said Mr Gurney,

There followed significant threats of violence, not only to Robinson himself but also his mother after she had finished work.

“It was unsettling for him. He was scared. He was intimidated and coerced into selling drugs to pay off debt,” said Mr Gurney. “He continued to use cocaine during that time, increasing the debt that he owed.”

Robinson had since moved out of Cumbria and gained work as a joiner but required surgery after shattering a bone in his keen during an accident.

Judge Nicholas Barker concluded he could taken exceptional sentencing course given that a “significant passage of time” had elapsed since the offences were committed, and in view of the defendant’s remorse and positive steps.

A 24-month prison sentence was suspended for two years. Robinson must complete a rehabilitation requirement, 180 hours’ unpaid work, an eight-week night time curfew and a 120-day alcohol abstinence monitoring requirement.