Fleetwood woman breaks down in tears as partner jailed for drug offences after £1,800 worth of cannabis seized

Heartbroken Kayleigh Hall begged the court not to send her partner Neil Wood to prison as the pair hugged and sobbed at the end of a sentencing hearing at the city’s Crown Court.

“Please don't take him,” pleaded the 34-year-old as Wood was ordered to be taken down to the cells to begin an 18-month term for possessing a large quantity of cannabis with intent to supply.

“I need this guy,” she said. “My mental health is not good and I need him.”

While Wood, 41, was locked up, his girlfriend was spared jail and given a 12-month community order after pleading guilty to allowing her house to be used for the supply of drugs. Both pleaded guilty.

The couple, who lived together in Hawthorne Avenue, Fleetwood, were arrested after a police raid on the home in March 2022.

The court was told that officers searching the house found 255 grams of cannabis with a street value of more than £1,800.

They also uncovered digital weighing scales and other drug paraphernalia, together with a wooden baton and two “fearsome” knives.

Lisa Worsley, prosecuting, said: “This was a significant amount of cannabis.” And she told Judge Darren Preston that Wood had a long string of previous convictions, including one of robbery with a knife in 2017.

Hall, she said, was a “lower grade offender” who had a handful of convictions for cannabis and methadone possession, but none since 2014.

Defence barrister Anthony Parkinson said Hall’s record was not as serious as her partner’s and therefore asked the judge to impose a community order.

But he added: “Wood is in a different position because of his record and because he is linked to more serious offences.”

He had even, said Mr Parkinson, been convicted of possessing cannabis while awaiting this case to come to court.

"The most difficult hurdle I face is persuading your honour to step back from a custodial sentence. His track record is poor. I can’t shy away from that, but it has been 10 years since he has been given a chance of rehabilitation.”

He said Wood had suffered problems with alcohol, but he had now “moved away from alcohol and replaced it with cannabis.”

“He is still with his problems, but he is determined to try and break this habit and cycle he has got into.

“We are now 18 months down the line and there has been a lot of water under the bridge since these offences were committed.

“While I accept he poses a high risk of committing further offences, he is not a high risk, or danger, or harm to people in the community.”

Judge Preston said some of the weapons found at the house were “fearsome indeed.” And he said Wood, throughout his life, offended to feed his habits.

“You have a very bad record, mainly due to the misuse of alcohol,” he told him.

He said both defendants had mental health issues. And he told Woods: “replacing misuse of alcohol with cannabis is not the way forward.”

In Hall’s case he believed there was a chance of rehabilitation and so gave her a 12-month community order with a requirement to carry out 15 days of rehabilitation activities.

Wood, he said, was in a very different position. “There is absolutely no prospect of rehabilitation.”