Two-time Leeds dealer avoids jail again and is labelled a 'lucky boy' by judge

But Ammari Dixon-Blair has been told he faces a mandatory seven-year stretch should he be caught selling again. The 23-year-old appeared at Leeds Crown Court this week after his sentence was previously deferred by Judge Ray Singh in August last year for selling cocaine and other drugs.

Judge Singh requested a report on how Dixon-Blair had been fairing on his previous suspended sentence for selling drugs in 2020, for which he received unpaid work and rehabilitation activity requirement days with probation.

The court heard this week that he had completed both, so Judge Singh made good on his promise to keep him out of jail, telling he was impressed by his efforts. Instead, he gave him an 18-month jail sentence, suspended for 12 months.

He told him: “You have been a very lucky boy, you know that. If this had been dealt with with the other [previous] offences, there’s no doubt you would have gone to prison.

"This is your second conviction for drug supply, if you do it once more the court has to send you to prison for seven years. It’s three strikes, there’s no discretion. That’s what you are playing with.”

Prosecutor Carmel Pearson told the court heard that Dixon-Blair, of St Martin’s Road, Potternewton, had been pulled over by police on January 19, 2021, after suspecting that he tried to speed away when he saw them.

They initially spotted him on Scott Hall Road, then pulled him over on Jackson Street in the Little London area of the city. With a strong smell of cannabis coming from the vehicle, they conducted a search and found six grammes of cocaine, 39 grammes of cannabis, six grammes of ketamine and 54 grammes of mephedrone. The drugs were worth up to £1,350, and he also had £440 cash on him. His phone also contained text messages he had sent out advertising drugs for sale.

Dixon-Blair admitted three counts of possessing class B drugs with an intent to supply, and one of possessing class A drugs with an intent to supply.

Not mitigation was offered by his barrister after Judge Singh indicated he would not jail him.