A FORMER addict caught selling crack and heroin to an undercover cop has been given a suspended sentence.

Gary Steptoe, 41, was given a chance to prove himself in January, when Judge Peter Crabtree deferred his sentence for three months.

The Park North man was ordered to comply with any instructions from the probation service and continue working with addiction charity Turning Point.

Steptoe returned to Swindon Crown Court on Friday and Judge Peter Crabtree imposed a 20 month prison sentence suspended for a year.

The judge said: “Given the circumstances and that this is dealing on one day in unusual circumstances I deferred sentenced on the basis of the conditions I indicated, having said that the normal starting point would be three years.

“The report for Mr Steptoe is a good one from probation. I accept that he’s continued to make efforts, so giving him the opportunity was the right thing to do.”

The defendant was ordered to complete 15 rehabilitation activity requirement days and a six month drug rehabilitation programme.

Earlier this year, the court heard that police officers phoned the “Ramsay” drug line on May 28, 2019. An undercover officer posing as a drug addict and named in court only as “Steve” was directed to Stratton and met by Steptoe, who supplied him with crack cocaine and heroin.

Steptoe, of Ringwood Close, Park North, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to two counts of supplying a class A drug.

It was his second conviction for drugs supply. In 2012, he was given two years’ imprisonment for conspiracy to supply class A drugs. He was one of 11 men and women involved in a drugs ring that flooded Swindon with heroin and crack cocaine in early 2010.

Judge Crabtree ordered the drugs to be forfeit and destroyed.

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