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Leeds drug dealers caught in Batley car park
FIVE drug dealers caught in a pub car park with cannabis worth £83,000 have been jailed for eleven-and-a-half-years.
PC Matthew Holdsworth spotted the men by chance as he drove past the the car park of the Babes in the Wood pub in Batley, Leeds Crown Court heard.
He went to investigate after seeing two men peering at a white box in the tailgate of a Range Rover as others kept lookout.
Blocks of cannabis resin weighing 19.5 kilos were later discovered in a van parked in the pub car park.
The court heard former soldier Ashley Clarkson, 30, of Moor Road Hunslet organised the cannabis sale.
Prosecutor, Tony Kelbrick said Edward Hampshire, 37, of Melton Gareth, Belle Isle and James Coffey, 31, of New Village Way, Churwell, Leeds, were acting as drug couriers.
Shaun Corke, 38, of Moor Road, Hunslet and William McCrodden, 33, of Middle Way, New Crofton, Wakefield, had gone to the car park to buy cannabis in bulk.
After realising PC Holdsworth had spotted the men, Hampshire hid his van keys in the pub men's toilet but police found them.
Father-of-three Corke denied being involved in drug dealing and said he had only gone to the pub for a drink. He was convicted by a jury of conspiracy to supply cannabis after a trial alongside McCrodden, who also denied the offence.
Coffey, Clarkson, and Hampshire admitted the same charge.
Christopher Dunn for Clarkson said he served more than eight years in the army latterly in the Airborne Unit of the Prince of Wales Regiment
and was said to be a "first-class" soldier.
Judge James Stewart QC jailed McCrodden for four years; Corke for three years; Coffey for nine months; Clarkson for two-and-a-half years and Hampshire for 15 months.
Judge Stewart praised PC Holdsworth for showing "courage and vigilance" in single-handedly approaching the five men during the incident at lunchtime on October 26 2006.
Judge Stewart added: "He should be commended for excellent policemanship."
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