By Neil Hunter
A LONELY divorcee who plied teenage girls with alcohol and drugs at his home has been jailed for two years.
Grant Glaister, 47, was told by a judge yesterday: ?The public will be outraged if I take the step of a non-custodial sentence. ? Teesside Crown Court was told how two 16-year-olds visited Glaister?s home in Ferryhill to take cannabis and amphetamine.
It was suggested that Glaister ? three-timesmarried, but living alone last November ? was flattered by their presence at his home.
During his trial, it was made clear there was no sexual motive for inviting the girls, and Glaister made no money from the drugs.
Rodney Ferm, mitigating, said that Glaister simply gave the drugs to the girls when they called at his home.
MrFerm said the former plasterer, a long-term user of cannabis and heavy drinker, was lonely and was ?showing off?.
Judge Les Spittle said:
?There is no question here of you using alcohol and drugs to entice those young girls for other reasons.
?You were giving those young girls drugs, but you didn?t face up to that and you didn?t accept your responsibility, and had a trial. ? Glaister, of Gladstone Terrace, admitted possessing Class B and Class C drugs, but denied supplying them to the teenagers.
He was convicted after a trial of four counts of supplying amphetamine and cannabis after the jury heard the girls? accounts.
Judge Spittle told Glaister he would receive no credit for forcing the youngsters to give evidence in front of the court.
He added: ?A lthough itmay have been very flattering for you to have these young girls coming to your premises, it was the supply of drugs that brought them.
?Those who are users ought to know the potential danger of drugs themselves and have a responsibility to warn young people. You should not be encouraging, you should be discouraging.
?You should be using your experience of years of drugtaking to dissuade them, but you did the opposite. ? Mr Ferm failed in an attempt to persuade the judge to impose a suspended prison sentence, so Glaister could continue to support his son?s business.
(c) 2008 Northern Echo. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
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