A DRUG dealer has been spared jail after leaving Warrington to fight Russians in Ukraine.

Declan Taylor was caught with MDMA back in 2020 – but since then he travelled to Ukraine where he was a machine gunner during the Battle of Kyiv.

Taylor, formerly of Marsh House Lane, Padgate, appeared before Liverpool Crown Court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to possessing a class A drug with intent to supply.

Prosecuting, Joshua Sanderson-Kirk told the court how in September 2020, a police officer was on patrol in Warrington when he spotted Taylor outside a property.

Mr Sanderson-Kirk said the officer recognised the 23-year-old as being wanted for a different matter so he approached him but Taylor ran off.

However, he quickly surrendered himself to police and pulled MDMA out of his pocket.

The court heard how Taylor was in possession of seven snap bags with a total of 8.11g of MDMA – which had a total value of £180.

And when his phone was analysed, messages relating to drug dealing that same day were found.

Mr Sanderson-Kirk said that Taylor has 24 convictions for 45 offences. He said the ‘vast majority’ of offences are for violence.

Defending, Simeon Evans told Liverpool Crown Court that this offence ‘marked the end of the old Declan Taylor’ who was living an ‘aimless’ and ‘pathetic’ life.

“He has not committed offences since then and in the context of his record, that is saying something,” added Mr Evans.

Mr Evans also said how Taylor has turned his life around as in March 2022 he travelled to Ukraine and was enlisted on a voluntary basis into the Foreign Legion where he then fought as a machine gunner in the battle of Kyiv.

He left in July but ‘impressed’ his commanding officer so much that he offered him work as a wildlife ranger in South Africa – which is where he now lives.

Concluding, recorder Michael Blakey said: “It seems to me you have turned your life around in an extraordinary way.

“You have not committed any offences since 2020 and you have no similar matters on your record.

“You have hopefully left offending behind you.

“It is the principal and not necessarily the amount of drugs involved in this case.”

 Taylor was handed a two-year prison sentence suspended for two years.