Two drug dealers have been sentenced after being caught in Harrogate with cocaine worth £2,500.
Darren Walker, 44, and Hannah Sharrett, 32, admitted to possessing the drugs and a small amount of cannabis.
The pair were stopped by police in a car on Leeds Road on April 16, 2020, heading into Harrogate.
A search located two bags of cocaine in the glove box and a further bag under the passenger seat – with a street value of more than £2,500.
A further small amount of cocaine was found in Sharratt’s possession, and a small amount of cannabis in a car door pocket.
Police seized and examined Walker’s phone, which showed him arranging the sale and transportation of drugs for street-level distribution.
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Walker, of Darley, Harrogate, was sentenced to 44 months in jail for possession with intent to supply cocaine.
He was also disqualified from driving after being found to be under the influence of cocaine.
Sharratt, of Fairfax Avenue, Harrogate, was given a suspended sentence totalling 24 months for being concerned in the supply of cocaine, and possession of cocaine and cannabis.
PC George Frost, from North Yorkshire Police’s Operation Expedite Team in Harrogate, said:
Harrogate drug dealer jailed for supplying heroin and cocaine“We are working tirelessly to combat criminal exploitation and drug supply in the area, and will continue to proactively target those who would seek to gain from the sale of harmful illegal drugs in our communities.
“This court result sends a clear and robust message that the sale of Class A drugs on the streets of North Yorkshire will not be tolerated.”
A Harrogate heroin and cocaine dealer has been jailed for seven-and-a-half years.
Mark Richard Bowden, 47, was sentenced at York Crown Court today after pleading guilty to seven drug supply offences earlier this month.
North Yorkshire Police’s Operation Expedite County Lines Team watched Bowden sell heroin from his car near his home address on Cheltenham Crescent on December 20 last year.
Bowden, who has numerous previous convictions for dealing Class A drugs, was arrested the following day and a year-long investigation began.
Police searched his home and found heroin and cash worth more than £1,500.
Despite the ongoing investigation, Bowden was arrested again on November 30 this year. Officers found heroin, cocaine and cash again worth around £1,500.
Bowden was also told by York Crown Court to hand back £1,500 which is believed to be from the sale of heroin on the streets of Harrogate.
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PC Michael Haydock, who led the Operation Expedite County Lines Team investigation, said:
Harrogate councillor calls for campaign to make class A drugs ‘shameful’“The criminal actions of Bowden and other drug dealers like him are truly deplorable.
“Motivated only by greed to make cash through the exploitation of often young and vulnerable drug-users, they think they can operate without impunity or just receive a ‘slap on the wrist’ from the authorities if caught.
“Well, for Bowden, he can now think again. This substantial custodial sentence will hopefully hit him with an equally substantial dose of reality of the repercussions of dealing Class A drugs in our neighbourhoods.
“We will not tolerate it and will act on any information or intelligence about such activity to tackle the scourge of drugs, which can cause so much harm to individuals and to communities as a whole.”
A fresh education campaign, with a similar message to the anti drink-driving stance embedded in the 1970s, is needed to teach children that taking class A drugs is “shameful”, a meeting has heard.
North Yorkshire has seen a significant rise in complex child death cases, such as drug-related ones over 2020/21 and analysis is being undertaken to examine why.
In a report to a meeting of North Yorkshire County Council’s young people scrutiny committee, the Child Death Overview Panel chair Anita Dobson said over the last year the panel was “mindful of an increase in drug-related deaths”.
She said it was thought the rise “may well be an indication of reduced mental wellbeing amongst young people, for which coronavirus could be a contributing factor” and that the panel would monitor the situation closely.
The concerns follow pledges by North Yorkshire and York’s past and present police, fire and crime commissioners to prioritise tackling county lines drug dealing gangs, which often target children, particularly in Harrogate and Scarborough.
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Councillors were told there had already been “a lot of work in educating children and young people directly” as well as parents and carers, to ensure people were aware of the risks of taking class A drugs.
Harrogate Central councillor John Mann told the meeting as well as tackling the supply of class A drugs, efforts to reduce demand for them were needed as “without the demand there would be no supply”.
He suggested an education drive, using a similar antisocial message to the 1970s drink-driving campaign, was required.
Cllr Mann said:
“As a local authority and as a country we need to try to reduce the demand and make it shameful to take class A drugs because we all have wider responsibilities as citizens.”
‘Complex situation’
After the meeting, the authority’s children’s services executive member, Cllr Janet Sanderson, said she agreed with making taking class A drugs socially unacceptable.
She said:
Harrogate teen jailed for supplying heroin and cocaine“We have to get the view of the young people out on the streets who are being tempted by these things and probably deal with an innovative approach to tackle it.
“In the 1970s it was normal to drink-drive. And then all of a sudden if you drove at 32mph in a 30mph area they stopped you and breathalysed you and it stopped it overnight.
“However, I can’t see that is going to be a straight lift and shift scenario with drugs because you can see people driving on the road, but drugs are more covert.
“With county lines we are looking at the people who are often selling the drugs also being the victims. It’s a hugely complex situation. We have got some good people working on this and some innovative ideas, but it is not going to be one single solution like naming and shaming.”
A Harrogate drug runner has been jailed for three-and-a-half years for supplying heroin and crack cocaine.
Daniel Chatten, 18, was first arrested in July when police spotted him walking away from a known drug user in the town centre, York Crown Court heard.
He was bailed pending further enquiries but was then caught “bang at it” again, said prosecutor Dan Cordey.
On this occasion, police spotted the teenager on Coach Road, arrested him and searched his home, where they found dozens of wraps of heroin and crack cocaine.
Chatten was inordinately co-operative with police, even telling them where to find the drugs cache, adding helpfully: “There’s loads!”
The teen appeared for sentence via video link on Wednesday after pleading guilty to two counts of possessing Class A drugs with intent to supply.
High purity cocaine
Mr Cordey said officers on patrol in Tower Street on July 6 spotted Chatten “walking away from a known drug user”.
He ran off but was stopped in Victoria Avenue. Officers searched him and found £675 in his rucksack, as well as a “debt list” and a mobile phone that was “constantly ringing”.
They also found 100 wraps of Class A drugs in his underpants, including 57 wraps of “high-purity” cocaine and 43 wraps of heroin.
As he was being arrested, Chatten bragged to officers that the cash found on him “wasn’t even half of a day’s takings”.
Mr Cordey said Chatten was operating as a drug “runner” on behalf of suppliers higher up the chain who badgered the teen with text messages such as “Sort it out” and “It’s getting late”.
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Chatten was released on bail following his arrest, but about six weeks later patrol officers spotted him on Coach Road. Again, he tried to scuttle off but officers recognised him from his first arrest and he was quickly apprehended.
They found a single wrap of cocaine, which Chatten had stuffed inside a cigarette lighter after unscrewing the top. Chatten’s phone was “ringing constantly again”, said Mr Cordey.
Drugs kept in sock
During a subsequent search of Chatten’s home, he told officers where they would find the drugs stash and added: “There’s loads – they’re in the wardrobe, in a sock in a jacket pocket.”
Inside the wardrobe were two purple tubs containing 22 wraps of cocaine and 11 wraps of heroin.
Officers also found a snap bag, inside which were 23 smaller bags of heroin, a set of weighing scales, £160 in cash and 23 “deal” bags of crack cocaine.
In August at York Magistrates’ Court, Chatten, of no fixed address, was given a 12-month conditional discharge for sending an offensive or menacing text message on February 27.
Magistrates committed him to the crown court for sentence on the drugs matters.
Nicholas Leadbeater, for Chatten, said his young client had no previous convictions for drug offences.
He said Chatten had begun selling drugs so he could buy his own house, and after his initial arrest he continued peddling heroin and cocaine to repay his “employers” for the drugs seized by police.
Jailing Chatten for three-and-a-half years, judge Sean Morris said he could not overlook the fact the teenager had been dealing potentially lethal substances that “create misery”. He added:
“To make things worse, once arrested – albeit (you were) honest with police – you were bang at it straight away because you were in debt.”
The judge made a confiscation order in relation to the cash seized from Chatten.