A DRUG dealer has avoided jail after being given a chance by a judge to get help for his long-standing drug addiction.

Patrick McFarlane, 61, appeared at Oxford Crown Court in October last year charged with selling heroin and crack cocaine in Oxford back in September 2021.

However, the sentencing was put about after learning that addiction service Turning Point was looking to potentially put him through a residential rehabilitation programme.

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The defendant had been deemed suitable for a place on the Oxford Rehab Project, a trailblazing partnership between the courts, prison service, NHS and the police that sees repeat offenders offered rehabilitation places as an alternative to sometimes lengthy jail sentences.

He was put on a trial period and during the sentencing on Wednesday (March 20), a representative from Turning Point reported that McFarlane had been doing well.

They said: “He’s responded well. We have no evidence at all of any use of illicit substances and no issues with alcohol either.”

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Judge Ian Pringle congratulated McFarlane, of Sherrif’s Drive, Oxford, on his progress.

“Normally for possession with intent to supply the sentence usually starts at about four and a half years,” he said. “You’ve taken this chance with both hands and I congratulate you for doing so.”

He was handed a three-year community order with one year of the drug rehabilitation placement.