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15
Jan 2021
Jail for 'prolific' Harrogate drug dealer
A drug dealer who brought crack cocaine and heroin into Harrogate has been sent to jail for five years and four months.
Lee Bavin, 27, of Manchester Road in Bradford, appeared at York Crown Court for sentencing today.
North Yorkshire Police has had Bavin on its radar since 2018 as part of a county lines investigation.
Officers stopped Bavin on his way to Harrogate at the time and found 40 heroin wraps and 140 wraps of crack cocaine in his underwear.
They also seized 82 methandienone tablets and his phone, which linked him to county lines.
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Police arrested Bavin again in January 2020 when a plain clothed officer watched a drug deal take place in Harrogate.
The officer followed the suspects to a block of flats where Bavin was hiding with more than £800, 19 wraps of heroin and a phone.
The courts granted the officer's request to remand Bavin in custody at this point to "protect the wider public."
Bavin subsequently faced charges of two counts of possesing heroin with intent to supply, one count of possesing crack cocaine with intent to supply and one count of possing methandienone with intent to supply.
He changed his plea to guilty to all offences when he appeared at court in November 2020.
Investigating officer, detective constable Tom Barker of Harrogate’s Operation Expedite Team, said:
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