A JUDGE freed a 21-year-old Stroud cocaine supplier after voicing his concern that the defendant might be on the verge of a lifetime of crime.

Ryan Decarteret, of Kites Nest Lane, Lightpill, admitted being concerned in the supply of cocaine to fund his own drug addiction between July 1 and September 1.

Judge Rupert Lowe, sitting at Gloucester Crown Court last Tuesday, April 30, sentenced Decarteret to an 18 month community order with a requirement to do 100 hours of unpaid work.

Decarteret was also placed on a nine-month drug rehabilitation order with 25 rehabilitation activity days.

But before giving Decarteret his liberty the judge said: "I kind of feel that I am going to get to know Ryan over the next few years and it will be prison next time and then half his life will be spent in prison.

"I don't want to see him again but he just ticks every box that you want ticked for someone who is starting a long career in crime.

"It doesn't mean he will - but it does mean he has all the characteristics of someone who might and it would be a terrible shame because I'm sure he is capable of being better than that."

Prosecutor Raesian Miller said Decarteret was arrested in October 2022 on suspicion of involved in drug dealing and text messages were found on his phone which showed he was receiving enquiries about cocaine and sending replies such as 'How much are you after?'

Ms Miller said the Crown accepted that Decarteret was supplying directly to cocaine users to fund his own addiction.

Sarah Jenkins, defending, said Decarteret's parents had both been heroin addicts and he was taken from them at the age of three and brought up by his grandmother.

She had been unable to cope with his addiction when he was a teenager and he had left her home for a time and slept rough - but had now mended his relationship with her and was back living with her, Ms Jenkins added.

"He does recognise that the years he was taking hard drugs are having a physical effect on him," she said.

"He has got his own children now, and he has got to be careful about the example he sets to them."