Drug dealer avoids jail term – because he spent five years on bail awaiting trial

A DRUG dealer avoided a jail term — because he spent nearly five years on bail awaiting trial.

Andreas Achilleos also had to wear an electronic tag confining him to home at least nine hours a day for a “record 45 months”.

In all, he waited four years and eight months before going to court. A judge and barrister highlighted the extraordinary delays to underline the chaos in the courts system.

Mechanic Achilleos, 45, was arrested in March 2018 for drug dealing and charged in September that year.

He was later tagged but his trial was postponed and then further delayed by Covid.

A jury trial was finally due to take place last week but Achilleos then admitted possessing heroin with intent to supply.

His dad Kyriacos, who was also charged, died of heart failure before the case got to court.

Judge Oliver Saxby KC told Maidstone crown court the 45 months on a tagged curfew “may be a record today”.

But he added that with a backlog of around 75,000 cases in crown courts in England and Wales, it “may not be one tomorrow”.

Prosecutor Rebecca Upton said: “It must be the longest period of time I have seen anyone on a qualifying curfew in my 23 years as a barrister.”

Judge Saxby also said there was a “reasonable expectation” of waiting no more than 18 months after arrest until the conclusion of the case.

He sentenced Achilleos, of Chatham, Kent, to three years and two months, but ruled he should not be jailed.

Dame Vera Baird KC quit as Victims’ Commissioner in September, saying courts were in “chaos” due to backlogs.

They have been blamed on underfunding, a shortage of lawyers and Covid.