Drug dealer Christopher Russell Ireland, 40, avoids time behind bars after copping more suspended jail time

A 40-year-old drug dealer has more prison time hanging over his head a month after he avoided jail for manufacturing his own methamphetamine to fuel his habit to avoid expensive prices during COVID-19. Christopher Russell Ireland was handed a five-month prison term that was suspended for 11 months after pleading guilty to various drug and weapon possession charges. The court was told Ireland was stopped by police after pulling into a petrol station in Glen Iris on February 27 when officers searched his car after they noticed him fidgeting. During the search, police uncovered three crystals located within the driver seat footwell, which were later found to be 5.74g of loose meth, a sword underneath the driver’s seat, a cannister of capsicum spray and a laser pointer in the driver’s door pocket, and a samurai sword in the boot. When police asked Ireland why he had the drugs and weapons in his car, Ireland gave no explanation. A later search of Ireland’s Australind home uncovered various rounds of ammunition, a .22 rifle, seven glass smoking implements and a tablet Ireland claimed was a vitamin but was later found to be MDMA. Several months later in May, Ireland was driving a LandCruiser on Forrest Highway in Wellesley when he was stopped by police and an oral fluid drug test was conducted and tested positive for meth. The court was also told Ireland was sentenced to a nine-month prison term that was suspended for a year in the Bunbury District Court after he pleaded guilty to manufacturing methamphetamine with a “clandestine laboratory” set up within bushland in Australind. In submissions, Ireland’s lawyer Roman Kan explained his client’s drug and weapon possession as being part of the “chaotic life of a drug user” and Ireland had since turned his life around after moving to Dunsborough with his wife and children. In sentencing, Magistrate Benjamin Tyers agreed it would be “counter-productive” to impose a term of immediate imprisonment when Ireland was already given a suspended term in the District Court. Along with the suspended prison term, Ireland was fined a total of $1800 and ordered to pay court costs.