Dad caught in the act after sending thousands of drug dealing texts thanks judge as he's spared jail

A young dad who was set to go to jail for drug dealing thanked a judge and said he was 'made up' after she decided to let him swerve jail time.

Matthew Duke, 22, was told he had 'come within a whisker of going to prison' after his graft phone had sent out thousands of flare messages to addicts in Wigan.

At his hearing at Liverpool Crown Court on Monday (March 25) he was sentenced to two years imprisonment suspended for two years after the court heard he had been 'immature' and 'bowed to pressure'.

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Duke was found to have had that phone and his personal mobile with him on 75,000 occasions in the North West during a 49 day period and it was used to send and receive drugs messages, said Ken Grant, prosecuting.

He explained that the graft phone used the mast situated just 320 metres from Duke’s home in Speke between August 7 and September 25 last year on 17,500 occasions. In that same period the graft phone used a mast in Wigan 11,000 times, the court heard.

“During the offence period the graft device sent bulk messages almost daily, and sometimes multiple times per day.”

He was caught out as part of “Operation Toxic which is a Home Office funded operation to tackle County Lines drug dealing networks operating from Merseyside into other force areas, said Mr Grant.

Duke was found to have used taxis to travel from Merseyside to Wigan with both phones in his possession.

When arrested and interviewed he denied involvement in drug dealing and denied any knowledge of the graft phone.

Duke, of Alderwood Avenue, who has three previous convictions, pleaded guilty to two charges involving being concerned in supplying crack cocaine and heroin.

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