Drug dealers caught passing cannabis to each other in the courtroom in front of shocked judge

Brazen drug dealers on trial for a stabbing were caught passing cannabis to each other in the dock in front of a shocked judge.

Khalid Latif, 18, and Kuany Eljack, 23, slashed their victims with knives over a £15 debt at their north London home in January last year.

And appearing in the dock at Blackfriars Crown Court, Latif passed cannabis to Eljack as the jury was being sworn in.

The pair then struggled with a dock officer as the bemused judge looked on and Latif was later fined £100 for possession of cannabis on top of his string of other charges.

Judge Michael Simon said: "I suspect that my face may have displayed some disquiet. It seems to me to be utterly inappropriate."

Back in 2017, the dealers asked their victims - who it is understood owed them £15 - to let them in to their home in Hampstead so they could cut up drugs, the Telegraph reported.

Latif then led one of the victims, John Furman, to a local machine to withdraw £20.

When they returned to the house, Mr Furman was stabbed in his arm and neck and his friend David Ginova was slashed across the back, the court heard.

Prosecutor Daniel Wright said: "At 6am John Furman called 999 and asked for an ambulance to attend his home address.

"Someone had stabbed him and his friend and said he needed to get something on his hand because it was bleeding really badly."

Mr Ginova took the phone and told the operator that he "owed the guys £15".

The injured men were taken to St Mary's Hospital in Paddington where they received emergency treatment after the attack.

Latif and Eljack were later arrested and identified by their victims at a police line up.

The judge said Latif already had 11 convictions for 27 offences to his name and added: "You may be young in chronological age but you are old in criminality."

Jailing Latif for a total of 10 years and Eljack for seven and a half years Judge Simon said: "The two of you are drug dealers. Mr Ginova appears to have owed you money, a whole £15.

"It is important to note the context of this offence and the context is one of drugs and your pushing of drugs and that when somebody owed you money you turned to violence.

"To try and prevent Mr Ginova further harm, Mr Furman offered to go to the cash point to get you the money.

"It is, in my view, an aggravating fact that the location of the attack was Mr Furman's home. People ought to feel safe in their homes."

John Armstrong, defending Latif, said: "Mr Latif knows that he is going to receive a lengthy custodial sentence.

"At some point he will be released, still as a very young man and will need to be rehabilitated as a law abiding citizen."

Latif, of Camden, was convicted of wounding with intent to cause GBH, unlawful wounding, robbery, witness intimidation and possessing class A drugs with intent and possessing cannabis.

Eljack, also of Camden, was convicted of wounding with intent to cause GBH, unlawful wounding and robbery.