Father faces jail after drug dealing to escape £20,000 debt threats

A MAN who admitted selling more than four kilos of cocaine in a bid to clear a £20,000 drug debt was told to expect a custodial sentence.

Javed Miah (30), previously of New Milton but currently of no fixed abode, appeared at Southampton Crown Court yesterday (Monday).

He was due to be sentenced by Judge Nicholas Rowland after he admitted one charge of supplying class-A drugs.

But the case has been adjourned until Thursday at the request of his defence counsel so that he could be with his family to celebrate Eid – which marks the end of one month of fasting for Ramadan.

The court heard how Miah had previously been jailed for three months in 2007 after he admitted supplying class-B drug cannabis.

After his release he kept out of trouble, but a historic drug debt caught up with him and repeated threats were made against him and his family if the money was not repaid, defence counsel Roderick Blain said.

The court heard how he began using drugs again in 2017 after his second son was born with Lesch-Nyhan syndrome, a genetic condition which causes neurological and behavioural abnormalities.

His first-born son, who also had the condition, had recently passed away following complications, the court heard.

Mr Blain said Miah, who was in charge of running the family restaurant, began suffering from severe anxiety and depression, and was using seven grams of cocaine a day.

He added Miah tried to raise money to repay the debt, which was growing daily, by dealing in kilo blocks of the drug.

After it was not repaid, a senior member of an organised crime group had made threats to petrol bomb his home and he had also been stabbed, it was claimed.

Judge Rowland adjourned the case for “compassionate reasons” and granted him bail. He told him: “You must expect a custodial sentence on Thursday.”