A trio of cannabis dealers have walked free from court more than three years after they were caught with more than £20,000 worth of the drug.

Jordan MacAteer, Thomas Milner, and Keiran McLean was all arrested when police raided a house on Barron Street, Darlington, and scores of individually wrapped drug deals were recovered scattered across the property.

Police recovered a mobile which showed one of the gang had been dealing in the Class B drug for at least two years before the raid in July 2020.

Teesside Crown Court heard how they were all effectively living in the terraced house together while dealing drugs around the town.

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Ian West, prosecuting, said McLean was caught street dealing in October last year and police seized £3,780 from him as well as drugs.

He said police also recovered an arsenal of weapons from the property including a hunter-style knife, a meat clever, a baseball bat, and an axe.

Mr West said police estimated the value of the recovered Class B drug to be worth up to £22,000 in street deals.

McLean, 27, of Craddock Street, Spennymoor, pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis with intent to supply from July 4, 2020, and a similar charge from October 2020 as well as a charge of possession of criminal property – the cash – when he was stopped on Chancery Lane, Darlington.

MacAteer, 25, of Abbotsfield Way, Darlington, pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis with intent to supply from July 4, 2020.

While 30-year-old Milner, of The Bridge Hotel, Northgate, Darlington, pleaded guilty to supplying cannabis between July 2018 and July 2020.

Robin Patton, representing Milner, said his client accepted his guilt on the matters but had changed his lifestyle since his arrest.

Vincent Ward, representing McLean, said he had been leading an ‘aimless life’ at the time the offences were committed and it was his own ‘stupidity’ which resulted in him being arrested a second time.

While Chris Baker, representing MacAteer, said his client was addicted to cannabis at the time of the offence and was working on resolving his issues with the drug.

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Judge Chris Smith told the trio that he didn’t want to derail their attempts to turn their lives around as he passed suspended sentences for them all.

“Cannabis is a thorough nuisance to society,” he said, “People think it is a recreational drug that helps you relax but it also contributes to significant mental health problems and each of you have these problems yourselves and I must say that it is in part in connection with your use of the drug.”

McLean was sentenced to two years in prison suspended for 18 months and ordered to attend 35 rehabilitation activity requirement (RAR) days and perform 120 hours of unpaid work.

Milner and MacAteer were both given 12-month sentences suspended for 18 months and ordered to attend 30 RAR days and do 100 hours of unpaid work.