A PROLIFIC West Cumbria crook has been given a lengthy jail term for an “orgy of offending” which included drug-dealing, possession of weapons and trying to use counterfeit cash.
Christopher Halsall, 38, was sentenced today (WED) for six separate sets of crimes committed during 2018 and 2019.
Carlisle Crown Court heard how a member of the public filmed Halsall supplying a psychoactive substance outside Workington’s job centre on two separate dates last November. Money, a tub containing tablets and two phones containing damning text message evidence of dealing were recovered by police.
Officers had also unearthed a “veritable corner shop” of different illegal substances when they twice executed warrants at Halsall’s home on separate dates. These included ecstasy, amphetamine and more than 1,000 diazepam tablets, the latter of which he later accepted having with intent to supply.
On other occasions, Halsall was also found in illegal possession of a knife and two knuckle dusters. And he had also committed shoplifting offences at the Primark store in Carlisle and, on August 17 last year, when he stole £100 worth of clothing at Workington’s Trespass shop after he was rumbled while trying to pay for the goods with fake £20 notes.
Halsall, of Main Road, Flimby, near Maryport, admitted around two dozen charges across six separate sets of offending. The court heard he had 97 crimes on his criminal record.
“This is an orgy of offending,” said Brendan Burke, defending, “concentrated on October and November of last year.”
Judge Nicholas Barker, who also heard mitigation and of Halsall’s unfortunate and tragic upbringing, mental health issues and drug addiction, jailed him for a total of 23 months. The judge also ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the illegal substances and weapons seized.
