Birmingham dad on £50k blasts 'you've ruined a family' as he's jailed for dealing cocaine

Yahoo

3 hours ago

An angry dad blasted 'you've ruined a family' to a judge who jailed him for dealing cocaine on a single day.
Andrew Millard was stopped in a car in Solihull and caught with more than £400 worth of drugs as well as scales and a dealer phone.
But the 41-year-old father-of-four from Bentley Grove, Weoley Castle was hoping to be spared jail at Birmingham Crown Court, which was told he was otherwise a 'hard-working and productive' family man earning £50,000 a year.
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He reacted with shock and dismay as Recorder Martin Reid sentenced him to two years and four months on Friday, August 8.
Millard, who had admitted possession with intent to supply class A drugs, turned to his wife and son in the public gallery and said 'sorry'.
He then became angry as he was ushered out of the dock shouting 'you've ruined a family' and 'absolute joke'.
Recorder Reid had earlier told him: "I'm conscious of the effect these proceedings have had on your family.
"That is often the case when people are convicted of supplying class A drugs.
"It is not only users but innocent family members affected by this unlawful trade.
"That's something ultimately you are responsible for."
Police had stopped a white Mercedes after it turned off Grange Road in Solihull without indicating at around 1pm on May 16 back in 2023.
Millard, who was driving, was found to have £160 in his wallet.
Scales and two further bags with around £350 of cocaine and £80 worth, were also seized as was a Nokia phone containing incriminating messages.
Nothing was recovered from two other men who were in the car at the time.
Millard initially denied he was a street dealer but eventually confessed that he was. He had 14 previous convictions for 19 offences.
He last committed a crime in 2014, for which he was jailed, when he smashed up two gaming machines at William Hill in Weoley Castle after losing £150 in ten minutes, a court heard at the time.
Gerard Cullen, defending, emphasised that Millard had only been dealing drugs on that one day having been out of trouble for nearly a decade.
He said: "He himself was a drug user of cocaine and cannabis. Unfortunately for him and his family that drug use led him to being here today at risk of custody.
"He's prepared for the worst but hoping for the best. His wife and one of four children has attended in support, and continue to support him.
"Otherwise he has led a hard-working and productive life and continues to do so."
The barrister told the court Millard earned £50,000 a year working for a company that was contracted to Severn Trent Water.
He said he was the main earner in his home arguing jail would 'result in the destruction of lives for so many people'.
Mr Millard described his client as a 'net contributor to society', adding: "A lot of hard-working family men have vices.
"It was his vices that led him here today. I ask on behalf of Mr Millard and his family he is given one chance."
But even after the maximum one-third reduction for an early guilty plea was applied to Millard's sentence it still fell above the two-year threshold to legally suspend it.
Recorder Reid said: "I have considered other alternatives to an immediate custodial sentence.
"Regrettably, it is of a length that can't be suspended."