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08
Dec 2023
Seven members of a county lines drug gang that "flooded Harrogate with heroin and crack cocaine" have been sentenced today.
Four people from Harrogate were part of the gang that appeared in Leeds Crown Court today.
They were Martin Gilham, 53, of Bewerley Road, Kim Aylott, 37, of Belmont Road, Christopher Patrick Hollowed, 57, of Swinton Court and Nathan Alexis Wilsher, 38, of Fairfax Avenue.
Gilham was jailed while the others received suspended sentences.
Harris Khan, 24, of Grantham Road in Bradford and the two ringleaders, Kyle Darius Sterling (30), of Stubden Rise, Bradford and Lee Bavin (30) of Bradford, were also part of the gang and were sentenced today.
Kyle Sterling (left) and Lee Bavin
Sterling, of Stubden Rise, was jailed for 11 years and four months.
Police said he was at the “head of the operation for the so-called Jerry-line” and dictated the move of large quantities of class A drugs through the county.
This was done through the use of couriers, who travelled from Bradford to Harrogate. The drugs were then sold to local users after being “advertised through mass mobile phone text messages” sent by Sterling.
Bavin, who is currently in prison but was previously of Manchester Road in Bradford, was jailed for five years and six months.
North Yorkshire Police said he was “second in command” and responsible for topping up phone lines to continue the operation, as well as travelling to Harrogate to “oversee the smooth selling drugs”, adding:
The force said seven of the couriers involved, who transported drugs and money between Bradford and Harrogate, have been treated as victims of exploitation and human trafficking. It said “safeguarding measures were put in place at the time”.
He added:
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