Jail for custody-seeking dad who agreed to sell cannabis

A father who agreed to sell more than €10,000 worth of cannabis to try to raise a deposit for a flat so that he could get custody of his daughter has been jailed by Judge Desmond Hogan.

Jude Sherlock (aged 36) and his partner lived in their car for two months before Sherlock agreed to sell the drugs in the hope of getting a flat.

"It was not a long-term enterprise. He did it to get himself and his partner on stable ground," defence counsel, Mr Laurence Masterson BL, told Judge Hogan at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

He said Sherlock and his partner had been living in her brother’s house but had to leave after her brother’s baby died of cot death while the Sherlock was looking after him. Sherlock suffered an "enormous guilt" because of the incident and started smoking cannabis again.

Mr Masterson said that Sherlock has since changed his life around and his arrest was "like a wake-up call". He was doing seasonal work in horse stables and part-time as a doorman in a pub in Inchicore.

He now has custody of his 10-year-old daughter and Mr Masterson asked Judge Hogan to give Sherlock an opportunity to prove "he was no longer the man he was at the time of his arrest".

Sherlock of Cappagh Avenue, Finglas West, pleaded guilty to possession of the drugs for sale or supply on Phibsborough Road, Phisborough, on July 5, 2006. He had 14 previous convictions which included one drug offence and a number of road traffic and public order offences

Judge Hogan said Sherlock had got involved in the enterprise "simply to make money". He imposed a three-year sentence and suspended the last 18 months on conditions, taking into account Sherlock’s cooperation with gardaí and his plea of guilty.

Garda Neil Cameron told Ms Martina Baxter BL, prosecuting, that Sherlock said it was his intention to "sell a bit and smoke a bit" of the drugs found in the bedroom of the house he was living in at the time.