Subscribe to trusted local news
In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever. By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.
- Subscription costs less than £1 a week with an annual plan.
Already a subscriber? Log in here.
04
Dec
Harrogate drug dealer turned his home into 'one-stop shop' for cocaine, cannabis and ketamine
A drug dealer who turned his home into a “one-stop shop” for cocaine, cannabis and ketamine has been jailed for more than two years.
Bradley Thompson, 21, from Harrogate, was the “main player” in a lucrative, albeit short-lived drug-dealing enterprise which also involved his mother Sharon Thompson, 49, and his 22-year-old former girlfriend Lauren Thompson, York Crown Court heard.
Jailing Bradley Thompson for two years and four months, judge Sean Morris said the Harrogate man was “reasonably trusted” by others higher up the drug chain and acted as a “staging post for the bagging up and (sale) of Class A and B drugs” - but ultimately “got bitten…in a tank of sharks”.
The judge spared Thompson’s mother and Lauren Thompson jail after hearing that they had maternal duties and played a lesser role in the drugs racket.
A drugs racket
Prosecutor Jennifer Gatland said the defendants were arrested in February 2022 when police raided their home in Newby Crescent, in the Jennyfields area of Harrogate.
Bradley Thompson and Lauren Thompson were present during the raid when officers seized drug packages, cutting agents, weighing scales and over £500 cash. Most of the drugs were found in Bradley Thompson’s bedroom.
Sharon Thompson returned home during the drug search and all three were arrested.
Ms Gatland said police seized over 21g of cocaine, some of which was “at least 85-per-cent purity”. It had an estimated street value of more than £2,000.
They also found over 31g of ketamine with a potential street value of more than £1,000 and a 407g stash of cannabis with an estimated street value of over £3,800.
They found a further stash of 27 drug bags, weighing a total 94.5g, with a potential street value of up to £945.
Police also discovered a small amount of MDMA, the crystallised form of Ecstasy, in tablet form.
Analysis of mobile phones seized from the address revealed messages “discussing the sale of cocaine, ketamine and cannabis” which began in November 2021.
York Crown Court
Ms Gatland said the messages showed that the cash from the drug dealing was going into Bradley Thompson’s bank account.
Lauren Thompson, of Eleanor Drive, Harrogate, was taking “incoming messages” about cannabis purchases on behalf of Bradley Thompson and his mother.
Ms Gatland said that Lauren Thompson played the role of “facilitator” but was not involved in the direct sale of drugs.
Bradley Thompson was charged with possessing cocaine, cannabis and ketamine with intent to supply and admitted the offences. He was also charged with possessing MDMA with intent to supply but denied the allegation, although he did admit simple possession of the Class A drug, which the prosecution accepted.
He also admitted being concerned in the supply of cocaine, ketamine and cannabis between November 2021 and February 2022.
His mother Sharon Thompson admitted being concerned in the supply of Class B drugs, namely cannabis and ketamine, and Lauren Thompson admitted being concerned in the supply of cocaine and cannabis.
'Significant' profits
Lauren Thompson entered her guilty pleas on the basis that she wasn’t in a relationship with Bradley Thompson at the time of the police raid, none of the drugs or paraphernalia inside the house belonged to her, she was merely putting people in touch with Bradley Thompson and Sharon Thompson on a “few occasions” and didn’t supply drugs herself.
Ms Gatland said that Lauren Thompson’s basis of plea was accepted as it accorded with the Crown’s evidence.
She said that Bradley Thompson and his mother could have expected “significant” profits from the illicit enterprise.
Bradley Thompson - lately of Norwich Drive, Harrogate - was the ringleader, but Sharon Thompson, who was a “point of contact to buy the Class B drugs”, also had a “significant” role.
Defence barrister Andrew Semple, for Bradley Thompson, said his young client had never been in trouble before and was still a teenager at the time of the police raid nearly four years ago.
He added that Thompson, a former hotel worker, started using cannabis in his early teens and then moved onto ketamine and “occasional cocaine use”.
He said that Thompson had started supplying to service a drug debt and was essentially dealing to fund his own habit, although he had a “certain level of trust” among those higher up the chain.
William Wilberforce, for Sharon Thompson, said that his client, who was only involved in the supply of Class B drugs, had endured a “harrowing background” riddled with serious physical and mental-health conditions.
He said she had “smoked a lot of cannabis” for pain relief and was currently undergoing tests for psychosis after experiencing hallucinations. She was claiming health-related benefits.
Oliver Norman, for Lauren Thompson, said the mother-of-two worked as a cleaner and “comes from a respectable family”. She now had a new partner, who also worked, and was living a law-abiding family life.
“Richly deserved” to be in prison
Judge Mr Morris, the Recorder of York, said that Bradley Thompson was the “main player” in the drug racket after turning his home into a “one-stop shop for drugs”.
He told the Harrogate man:
You must understand (that) dealing in Class A is dealing in misery. Virtually every acquisitive crime I deal with in this court has a background of Class A drug use.
He added:
Having got yourself in a tank of sharks (and having been) bitten, you turned to drug dealing…to get yourself out of the situation you were in. That was the wrong turn in your life.
Jailing him for 28 months, Mr Morris told Thompson:
You had at home the packaging, the diluting powders, the scales, the money. You were in contact with the purchasers and I’m quite satisfied that your former girlfriend Lauren Thompson wouldn’t have been in the dock if it wasn’t for you, so you are responsible for getting that woman a criminal record.
He told Sharon Thompson that she too “richly deserved” to be imprisoned for “dealing Class B drugs from your house”.
However, he said he had to consider Thompson’s wider mothering duties and it was only this consideration which had saved her from prison.
She was given a 10-month jail sentence, but this was suspended for 18 months. As part of that sentence, she will have to complete 25 rehabilitation-activity days.
Mr Morris told Lauren Thompson that she wouldn’t be in the dock today were it not for Bradley Thompson for whom she had “stupidly relayed some (drug) messages”.
He said that because she was a primary carer as a mother and had a lesser role in the drug enterprise, he could suspend the inevitable jail sentence in her case too.
She was given a 21-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, and ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work. She was also ordered to complete 15 rehabilitation-activity days.
0