By
Lyle Brennan
17:08 EST, 1 May 2012
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17:12 EST, 1 May 2012
Addicted: Gerard McBlain spent his compensation on the Class C drug diazepam
A heroin addict won £3,000 in compensation after he complained he was mistreated in prison – and then blew it all on drugs when he was released.
The Government awarded the payout to Gerard George McBlain, a 31-year-old father of one, because he was denied methadone to wean him off heroin while he was behind bars.
After he used his winnings to buy diazepam, a Class C drug, his barrister, Richard Vandon, told a court: ‘He was given £3,000 by the Home Office and he went out and spent the money – surprise, surprise – on the drugs he is now indicted with.’
McBlain, of Barrow, in Cumbria, said he should have been given a methadone prescription to help him cope with heroin withdrawal while in prison.
But after he collected his compensation upon release last May, he immediately handed it over for a bulk buy of more than 8,000 tablets of the anti-anxiety medication.
When police raided the home he shared with his girlfriend later that month, they found the kitchen scattered with diazepam worth an estimated street value of £4,249.
At the Court of Appeal, Mr Vardon said it was hardly a surprise that a drug addict, when presented with a cheque for thousands of pounds, would spend it on more drugs.
McBlain initially denied any wrongdoing, but, in a letter to his girlfriend intercepted by police, he confessed it was he who had bought the drugs.
Substitute: McBlain complained after prison officers denied him methadone to help stave off the effects of heroin withdrawal
He later admitted buying them in bulk and, after pleading guilty to possession with intent to supply at Preston Crown Court, he was jailed for another 18 months.
Appealing, Mr Vardon said McBlain was a long-term drug addict who had suffered ‘wicked and brutal violence’ as a child, but had never dealt drugs before.
Since he was jailed, his girlfriend had given birth to their first child and his previously estranged father had offered to pay for a course to help him get a job, he said.
Giving judgment, Lord Justice Davis, Mr Justice Treacy and Judge Peter Collier QC allowed McBlain’s appeal and slashed his prison sentence to 12 months.
‘Having reviewed all the matters urged upon us in relation to the basis of plea, the background of this appellant and his current prospects, we do consider that the sentence passed by the judge was excessive,’ said Judge Collier.
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Well that’s another 3 grand well spent of tax payers money. Which set of idiots gave this moron our money, come on DM print the names of the village idiots with no sense whatsoever.
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Well is this the ‘free’ market politicians often speak about? Bulk buying…
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Law abiding, tax paying people are going without, so garbage like him can screw the system and the tax payers. What a sick joke England has become!!!
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I suppose he’ll be suing the government again for giving him £3000 !!!.
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idiot.
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8,000 tablets of the anti-anxiety medication? I thought prison was supposed to be easy these days, This guy was obviously stressed out.
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This just proves that the British have become a nation of dim witted idiots, Dolts, Push overs. They really are pathetic.
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What happened to Labour’s joined together Government.
It may be back in the 80s but as I sat alongside someone at a Camberwell Meeting who took the guys in for mental and drug problems you do not have the Tory Zealot approach to the World aka IDS and Gove.
In a position of responsibility you are required to engage your brain before your mouth and your fingers so unless you are a complete “washpot” you do Not deny drugs to someone being treated for addiction.
If Duncan-Smith or his other idiots took the trouble to think we would not be wasting the Courts now.
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The lunatics have taken over the asylum.
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You just could not make this up!!!! words fail me!!!
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