A CONVICTED criminal from Swindon who breached the conditions of a suspended prison sentence told the town’s magistrates on Friday that he found it difficult to work in a group where drugs were being taken.

Mohammad Qazi, 26, of Broad Street, appeared before Wiltshire magistrates sitting in Swindon for breaching conditions attached to a nine-month suspended prison sentence imposed by the Central Criminal Court in July last year.

Qazi admitted the breaches and told the court that he had he managed to find casual agency work on some of the days he was supposed to attend appointments with the probation service which was one of the reasons for not attending.

But he also told them as a drug addict trying hard to get clean he felt he could not attend the unpaid work days because other people in the group were using drugs which he found hard to deal with and thought that being in their company would hamper his attempts to stay clean.

A probation officer in court told the bench that Qazi had been offered alternative dates for his appointments but had again failed to attend.

Chairman of the bench Natalie O’Connell told Qazi she felt the probation service had bent over backwards to accommodate him and that he was going to have to learn coping mechanisms for coming into contact with people taking drugs.

Mrs O’Connell said the magistrates were minded to activate the suspended sentence and send Qazi to prison.

But she said they had decided instead to refer the matter to the crown court for a decision on a date to be fixed.

She advised Qazi to attend all his appointments before his next court appearance.