'Extremely lucky' Leeds dealer avoids jail again for community service 'backsliding'

Sam Firth was sentenced at Leeds Crown Court in June, made up of 22 months’ jail, suspended for 24 months, a three-month curfew and 150 hours of unpaid work.

But the 24-year-old was hauled back before the court where he admitted two breaches from July and November, when he failed to comply with the unpaid work, including not turning up.

Prosecutor David Ward said Firth, of East Grange Road, Belle Isle, had so far completed just over 61 hours with more than 88 still outstanding.

Little mitigation was offered by his barrister after Judge Tom Bayliss KC said he would not jail him, but gave him a final warning instead. He told Firth: “It’s a stark choice to send you to prison or allow you one more opportunity to complete it (the work).

"You know what will happen. Probation won’t stand for anymore of your backsliding. If you don’t do it, you will be back here and you will go to prison.

"You have ridden your luck. You have not done the work. You were extremely lucky not to go to prison in the first place.”

He gave Firth an additional 20 hours of unpaid work to complete. Firth was convicted in June of possession of cocaine with intent to supply, after he was caught with a quantity of the class A drug in Leeds in May 2020.