Child left alone in flat with axe and drugs 'in easy reach' as dealer sold cannabis
09.08.2023 - 11:45
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
A young child was abandoned in a flat stashed with weapons, drugs and dogs when the man who was meant to be looking after her was out on the street selling cannabis.
Dean Welch left the child in his "squalid" and freezing cold flat with only a school jumper and a nappy. The squalid apartment was described as having an "overwhelming smell of excrement and urine" and doubled as a storehouse for thousands of pounds worth of cocaine, the Liverpool Echo reports.
Liverpool Crown Court heard how plain clothes police on duty in Seacombe, Wirral, spotted a drug deal in progress in December last year. Joanne Maxwell, prosecuting, described how a cyclist involved was detained by officers and was found in possession of two wraps of cannabis, meanwhile, Welch had ran off but was shortly detained after a chase.
Try MEN Premium for FREE by clicking here for no ads, fun puzzles and brilliant new features
The 40-year-old was found to be carrying two £20 notes and a "burner type" Nokia mobile phone. When Welch was arrested, he confessed he left the child alone in his flat on Brighton Street, Wallasey, and that it was "in a mess".
Police proceeded to find the primary school-aged child inside playing on a mobile phone in the living room. Three dogs - a bullmastiff and two bulldogs - had only been kept away by a "thin, low metal partition", with one being noted as "particularly large" and "agitated and barking".
Officers also said there was an axe which was "within easy reach" in the hallway while an "overwhelming smell of excrement and urine permeated throughout the flat and down the stairwell". Meanwhile, an "open large bag of cannabis" was "also in easy reach" on a table with a kitchen knife, and an air revolver was discovered in the