A reformed former teenage drug user and seller has been spared an immediate prison sentence after turning his life around in recent years.

Elliot Hordon appeared at Durham Crown Court facing a potential prison term after admitting drugs offences dating back almost three years.

The court heard the now 21-year-old defendant was arrested after police visited his former home, in Langley Park, where he lived with his mother and girlfriend, in July 2021.

Chris Baker, prosecuting, said the officers went to Hordon’s bedroom and seized drugs of both class A and B, plus a phone and a sum of £4,323 in money.

The Northern Echo: Durham Crown Court heard that high-quality cocaine was recovered in raid on defendant's former home

Among the cache of substances recovered was 10.4g of cannabis leaf, other packages containing MDMA (ecstasy) and ketamine, plus an amount of cocaine, with a high, 91-per cent purity level, said to be worth £12,600 in sale value.

Mr Baker said examination of Hordon’s phone showed messaging indicative of drug dealing, while there were unexplained entries of large sums of money into his bank account

Hordon, his girlfriend and mother were all detained and taken for questioning, initially giving “no comment” replies.

The defendant requested a further interview, in April last year, in which he admitted  everything that was seized in the police raid belonged to him.

He said that his girlfriend and mother were not involved in any way in any of the drug matters.

The court heard that Hordon has subsequently outlined, to the author of a Probation Service report, that a drug addiction took hold of his life and he had sought rehabilitation two months earlier.

He said he had been taking drugs, racking up debt and operating as he did in the sale of various substances to pay off his dues to dealers.

Following a relapse in 2022, he moved house to get away from those past contacts and he was able to find a job.

Hordon, now of Potterhouse Lane, Pity Me, Durham, admitted two counts each of possessing class A and B drugs with intent to supply.

The court heard he has no previous convictions or relevant cautions.

Mr Baker said there would be no need for any proceeds of crime inquiries as his bank account contents of £12,000 were seized by police upon his arrest.

The Northern Echo:

Tony Davis, for Hordon, said it was “an unusual situation” as the defendant was “very young” at the time of the police raid.

“It was at a time when he was only 17 or 18 and he has since recovered, with significant assistance from his mother, removing him from the village where he had been living, and where people more sophisticated in drug offending had an influence over him.

“He became addicted to ketamine and fell into selling to pay off his debt.”

Mr Davis even quoted from one of the detectives in the case who, in his dealings with the family, and Hordon, in particular, had noticed a “significant turn-around” of the defendant, since the time of his arrest.

“If not for his efforts and the delay in this case coming to court I may not have had a platform to seek to urge the court to depart from the usual course taken in matters such as this, involving drugs.

“It’s a rare and unusual case, where the court can have every confidence that this is a young man who has turned into a law-abiding citizen.

“The fact is, three years down the line, he has matured into a very different person.”

Judge Jo Kidd told the defendant that everything she had heard and read about him, particularly in the "lengthy and thorough" probation background report, showed he has developed into a, “mature, hard-working, loving and considerate young man”.

She told him: “It’s very different from how you were behaving at 17 or 18, involving yourself with those organised criminals.

“You were grossly taken advantage of when you were a vulnerable young teenager.

“There’s strong evidence to suggest young people become stuck at the age they were when the addiction begins.

“There’s hope, if they can keep away from drugs, it will allow them to mature again.

“You must be eternally grateful to your mother and girlfriend for their unending support and persistence in assisting you.

“I’m going to take a risk with you and follow the proposals set out in the pre-sentence report.”

She told Hordon he must be, “under no illusion”, that the amount and quality of the cocaine meant she would have to impose a term of imprisonment, but she would be just able to suspend that sentence.

Judge Kidd warned Hordon that any breaches of the order she was about to pass, or further offending, would land him behind bars.

See more court stories from The Northern Echo by clicking here

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She imposed a two-year prison sentence, suspended for two years, during which the defendant must take part of 40 rehabilitation activity days working with the Probation Service and undergo 240 hours’ unpaid work.

On top of the £12,000 seized from his bank account by the police, she ordered confiscation of the £4,323 found at his home during the raid.

The judge also ordered forfeiture and destruction of the drugs and paraphernalia seized by police and said the defendant must pay a £156 statutory court surcharge.