Cocaine dealer told terminal illness is ‘not a get out of jail card’

A Penrith man caught red-handed as he dealt cocaine in the street on two separate days a year apart has been sent to prison.

Kyle Chaloner, 43, initially fled on the first occasion, on March 14 2020, after police saw him involved in an illegal exchange with another male in the Bluebell Lane area of the town.

Almost 177g of the illegal class A drug — potentially worth £15,000-plus — was seized from his possession a during a search of his home which also unearthed weighing scales, plastic packaging and thousands of pounds’ cash.

When quizzed by police, Chaloner stated: “I do what I’m told to do.”

He was caught out again on March 1, 2021. His motorbike was followed by police to Brunswick Square, where he spoke with a pedestrian. He was caught after a short chase by police who subdued him with incapacitant spray.

More cocaine, cash, weighing scales and mobile phones were recovered from him by police who noted bruises on his body and that he appeared to be “in fear of persons unknown”, Carlisle Crown Court heard. He told officers: “I’m still doing it because I owe them thousands.”

On June 4, Chaloner racially abused a Penrith resident and damaged his car. And in September he was seen carrying a baseball bat in the street.

Chaloner was sentenced today after admitting two cocaine supply crimes, racially aggravated public order, criminal damage and offensive weapon possession. The court heard he was jailed for 10 years in 2005 for an armed robbery committed in the North East.

Latterly, he was described as being terminally ill with a brain tumour. But despite being given several chances by a judge to seek specialist medical treatment and tests, Chaloner, of Rowan Court, Penrith, had failed to engage.

Jailing him for 28 months, Judge Richard Archer said he agreed with a submission made by the defendant’s lawyer that the terminal illness was “not a get out of jail free card”.