A DRUG user became addicted due to ‘unresolved childhood trauma’ after growing up in Northern Ireland during The Troubles.

Darren Garnon, of Hornton Drive, Banbury, pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of a Class A drug at Oxford Crown Court on Friday (May 31).

The 30-year-old was caught on May 1 this year with about £200 of crack cocaine and diamorphine with his co-defendant Chantelle Austin, 33.

READ MORE: Man, 27, accused of sexually abusing child when he was a teen

Garnon has previous offences related to drug-use and his barrister explained that his addiction is due to ‘trauma’.

He explained that the defendant was born in the early 1990s in Derry, Northern Ireland where he saw ‘many things that a child shouldn’t see’.

From the 1960s until 1998, The Troubles – an ethno-nationalist conflict – took place between Catholics and Protestants over the status of Northern Ireland.

The Irish Republican Army (IRA), a Catholic group, carried out many attacks and riots during this time, causing over 1,800 deaths.

Garnon’s barrister states the IRA allegedly used the defendant’s family home as an ‘impromptu location to ambush soldiers’.

READ MORE: Firefighter, 51, found dead at his home address

He stated that these events then led to the death of Garnon’s father, who took his own life after jumping from The Foyle Bridge into the River Foyle in the early 1990s.

Garnon would have been about six years of age at the time.

His family then moved to the UK but Garnon still has ‘unresolved family trauma’ as a result of the incidents.

The court heard that Garnon planned to visit Turning Point, an all-purpose drug and alcohol treatment charity, as soon as he was released from custody and hopes to get back into employment as a roofer.

Judge Ian Pringle sentenced him to three months imprisonment which will lead to his release in about two weeks due to the time already served.

Austin, formerly of Hart Place, Bicester, was due to be sentenced for the same charges but her case was adjourned for a pre-sentence report to be prepared.

This is in order to assess whether Austin would be fit for a community order and drug rehabilitation treatment.

It was heard she had been using Turning Point frequently until the start of this year prior to these offences.

She will be sentenced on June 24.

READ MORE: Man jailed for seven years after sexually abusing two children

The pair were also both charged with two counts of possession of a Class A drug with intent to supply – namely crack cocaine and diamorphine.

They both pleaded not guilty prior to the sentencing.

However, prosecuting barrister Kathy Oliver stated that their pleas for possession without intent were acceptable to the Crown and the latter counts were dismissed.