'Desperate' Sheffield drug-dealer warned he will go to prison if he does not address his problems

Sheffield Crown Court heard on July 14 how Mark Liversidge, aged 24, of Wragg Road, Wybourn, Sheffield, was found by police with £500 in cash as well as £340 worth of cocaine after he was caught with a number of occupants in a Nissan motor vehicle.

James Baird, prosecuting, said police stopped the Nissan car on Maltravers Terrace, near Wybourn, Sheffield, on January 20 last year, and Liversidge had £500 in a pocket and was also found with a plastic container with wraps of cocaine valued at £340. Liversidge pleaded guilty to possessing cocaine with intent to supply.

Zaiban Alam, defending, said Liversidge had grown up with a difficult background and his low mood led him to use illicit substances as a means of coping, which resulted in him being exploited by others to sell drugs.

She added: “He is quite simply and was a desperate young man and remains so and he was prevailed upon by others to sell these drugs.

"But for the pressure placed upon him by those third parties he would not have engaged in this offending. He did not and does not have a criminal lifestyle.”

Judge Rachel Harrison acknowldeged Liversidge had accrued a drug debt and the person to whom he owed money coerced him into selling drugs.

She also recognised that Liversidge had turned to drugs and alcohol as a coping mechanism to deal with his depression and anxiety.

Judge Harrison, who had remanded Liversidge in custody overnight, told him during a sentencing hearing on July 15 that if he did not address his problems he would be going back to prison.

She said: “There will be lots of people trying to help you and if you do not take that help you will be back where you spent last night.”

Judge Harrison sentenced Liversidge to 22 months of custody suspended for 18 months with a Rehabilitation Activity Requirement, 150 hours of unpaid work and an Alcohol Treatment Requirement.