A judge told two people they had “escaped going to prison by the skin of your teeth” at their sentencing at Sheffield Crown Court.

Dean Richard Hassan, 46, a self-employed plasterer, and Jenna McGarry, 39, a beauty salon employee, narrowly avoided jail time this morning.

The court heard that The Hair and Beauty Lounge, on Harborough Avenue, in Deepcar, was a “low level distribution centre” for a variety of Class B and C drugs.

More than £7,000 worth were found between the salon and Hassan’s residence. 

The pair pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply. Hassan was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment, suspended for two years, and McGarry was sentenced to nine months imprisonment, suspended for 18 months. 

In mitigation, the court heard that the ordeal, which had been going on for more than two years, had driven Hassan “to the edge of despair”, and McGarry “bitterly regrets it”, and “feels like the biggest fool in the world”.

Hassan had struggled with debt the court was told, with Judge Jeremy Richardson KC saying: “You had illegitimate debts to those supplying you with drugs, and you felt obliged to peddle drugs yourself.”

The court heard both had struggled with mental health problems. Hassan also suffered from underlying heart conditions and McGarry from the death of her partner four years ago, and is the sole carer of her three children, two of whom are under 18. 

Both were given court-ordered rehabilitation sentences to aid their recovery.

Judge Richardson said that if the case had been heard by a jury, it was likely the pair would have been jailed, but as neither defendant had any prior offences, it became a “balancing exercise”, and any outcome must be “just and proportionate”. 

“It is a tragedy that each of you find yourself in the dock of a Crown Court,” Judge Richardson added.