A barman at a well-known pub in Ripon has been jailed for over three years for dealing cocaine and cannabis from his living quarters.
Jay Goodall, 29, a heavily convicted felon, was arrested at the South Lodge pub on Harrogate Road after police searched his bedroom and found about £3,000 of cocaine, cannabis and benzocaine, York Crown Court heard.
Police found all manner of drug paraphernalia inside his room including digital weighing scales – which Goodall claimed were for baking cakes.
He was brought in for questioning and initially claimed the drugs were for personal use.
Prosecutor Kelly Clarke said that would be impossible because it would have meant he had a £1,750-a-week drug habit on a £400 weekly wage.
Goodall was charged with possessing cocaine and cannabis with intent to supply and admitted both offences. He appeared for sentence via video link today after being remanded in custody.
Ms Clarke said police executed the search warrant at South Lodge on February 9 after receiving a tip-off that someone was potentially dealing drugs at the hotel owing to a “strong smell of cannabis” emanating from the staff quarters.
Police at the scene on February 9.
An officer turned up at the newly refurbished pub – one of the largest and most prominent in the area – as Goodall parked his vehicle in the car park. He was detained in the communal bar area.
Ms Clarke said police noted a “strong smell of cannabis (coming) from the living quarters upstairs”.
Officers followed the smell to Goodall’s bedroom where they found a “large quantity” of suspected cocaine in various snap bags and boxes.
They also found two plastic boxes and a black safe full of dealer bags. One of the boxes contained a pestle, used for grinding substances, on which police found “remnants of Class A drugs”.
They also found a large bag containing 330 grammes of benzocaine, a cutting agent used to bulk up drugs which can also be used as a painkiller.
Inside Goodall’s wardrobe was a black balaclava, two zip bags full of cannabis, the digital weighing scales and a box for an air pistol, although no weapon was found inside.
Ms Clarke said:
“He said the drugs were for his own personal use and (that he) had consumed around three-and-a-half grammes per day.
“He said the scales were for when he baked cakes.”
The estimated value of the drugs stash, including the benzocaine, was about £3,000.
Police also seized two mobile phones – one from inside a rucksack in the wardrobe and one from Goodall’s car – but Goodall failed to provide officers with the PIN numbers to enable them to analyse his messages.
Racial offences
The prosecution outlined Goodall’s criminal record which included several convictions for racially aggravated harassment and criminal damage, as well as assaulting an emergency worker and a previous conviction for dealing cannabis.
Other previous convictions included driving while unfit through drink or drugs, battery and sending malicious communications.
He received a nine-month suspended prison sentence for possession with intent to supply cannabis in Leeds in 2021.
In July last year he received another suspended jail sentence for yet more racially aggravated offences. The new offences in Ripon put him in breach of that 16-week suspended prison term.
Goodall’s solicitor advocate Stephen Smithson said the former barman was a drug addict but “there’s no suggestion (that he had conducted) this criminality for the sake of his own addiction”.
Judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, told Goodall:
“You were caught red-handed in your place of work and residence, and you had the full paraphernalia for drug-dealing in your room. It’s quite clear this was determined drug-dealing.
“You should have learnt your lesson (following the previous conviction for dealing drugs). You haven’t.”
He told Goodall he had a “bad record for unpleasant” offences including ones with a racial undertone.
Goodall was jailed for three years and seven months for possession with intent to supply cocaine and breaching the suspended sentence. There was no separate penalty for dealing cannabis.
Read more:
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Ripon’s South Lodge to reopen tomorrow
One of Ripon’s largest and most prominent pubs will reopen under new management tomorrow afternoon (Saturday), following its sudden closure in April.
The South Lodge doors will be open again from 4pm and at 9pm there will be free live music.
Ahead of the pub’s reopening, the Stray Ferret was invited for a sneak peek and the opportunity to meet new licensee Terry Flanagan and his daughter Sinead, to find out about plans for the Harrogate Road hostelry.
The pub’s wonky sign will be fixed shortly
Mr Flanagan, told the Stray Ferret:
“The minute I saw this pub was available, I just knew I had to have it. It’s in a great residential location and has bags of potential.”
With experience built over almost 30 years in the hospitality sector across Yorkshire, beginning in the mid 1990s when he was landlord of the Queen’s Head in Kirkby Malzeard, he added:
“I go on my gut instincts and could see that South Lodge has all of the ingredients needed for success.
“My aim is to put it right back at the heart of the community, welcoming families with children during the daytime and catering for adults in the evenings, with free musical entertainment at weekends, Thursday quiz nights and pool nights on Wednesdays.”
Ms Flanagan, also an experienced publican, is providing administrative support for the South Lodge reopening.
Sinead Flanagan
She said:
“The food offer, including Sunday carvery, will be up and running by the end of the month and we also have plans for the Christmas period.”
Re-decoration is nearing completion and the pub, which stands in its own grounds and has a beer garden, will have its sign fixed shortly.
South Lodge is located by the busy A61 on the route of the 36 bus service between Ripon and Harrogate.
Further information is available via the pub’s Facebook page.
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