'He's terrified of going back to Forest Bank': Caught on CCTV at a shopping centre, he told cops he had a knife and would use it

A drug dealer was caught peddling cocaine and heroin in a shopping centre. Joshua Jones, 20, was discovered on CCTV with snap bags of the class A drugs at Harpurhey shopping centre.

When police confronted him, Jones warned officers that he had a knife and he would ‘use it if he had to’. But Manchester Crown Court heard he was apprehended and has now been locked up.

His barrister appealed for the judge to have mercy on him as he was ‘terrified’ of going to prison.

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Prosecuting, Olivia Brooksbank-Laing said a police officer was in the shopping centre’s CCTV office on an unrelated matter. A security officer watching camera footage spotted Jones and identified him to police.

The officer then called in for reinforcements and approached Jones. After releasing that the police were onto him, Jones shouted out to a man nearby and told him to call two men.

He told police that he had a knife for ‘self-protection’ and would ‘use it if he had to’. Jones was arrested and found to be in possession of 67 snap bags of cocaine - 22 snap bags of heroin. A small amount of cannabis was also recovered. He answered 'no comment' to the police’s questions during an interview.

“Shopping centres are areas where families and young persons attend and frequent,” said the judge, District Judge Jones. “As a young man, you would know your target audience.

“It has an impact on the Harpurhey community, which is like so many other communities blighted by those who sell drugs.” Defending, Niamh McGinty said that Jones had experienced a ‘turbulent start to life’, and was fostered after his father was