Biker saw Leeds drug dealer riding his stolen motorcycle in online video
Teenage tearaway jailed for long list of offences
A young drug dealer has been jailed for a series of crimes in a Leeds village, which included stealing a motorbike and filming himself online.
The Kippax bike owner frantically went to check and found it was missing after spotting the video online.
Thief Christian Hargreaves was told by a judge at Leeds Crown Court that custody was the only option.
Police, armed with a search warrant, first went to his address on Rutland Drive in Kippax on December 2 last year.
They seized Hargraves’ phone and a quantity of cash. But while arresting him he became abusive and tried to headbutt an officer.
His phone contained messages “consistent with street-level supply of cocaine”, prosecutor Angus Macdonald told the court. He was later bailed.
In March of this year, officers went to a property in Wykebeck Road in Halton and saw Hargreaves fleeing and jumping over a fence.
Giving chase, they eventually caught up with him and pulled a backpack from him. However, he kicked out and was able to make his escape.
The bag contained more than 28 grammes of cocaine worth up to £1,680, and 163 vials of synthetic cannabis known as spice.
He was later arrested after he tried to climb a tree to avoid officers.
Finally, and having been bailed again, on April 19 a resident became aware of a video online of his motorbike being driven around the local area.
It had been taken from his driveway in Birch Road in Kippax.
The man was able to identify Hargreaves and where he lived, so a group went to his home to retrieve the bike.
Hargreaves was not there but it was arranged for him to meet and hand over the bike on Brigshaw Lane in Kippax.
Hargreaves turned up in a vehicle but then drove off at speed. Arrested again, he became abusive and denied the offences.
The 18-year-old later admitted three counts of dealing in drugs, assaulting an emergency worker, theft of the bike, driving while banned and without insurance, and two counts of failing to provide a sample for drug testing.
He has three previous convictions for six offences including violence and public disorder.
Mitigating, Giles Grant said that most of the offences were committed when he was a youth and said it was his “first taste” of custody.
He said he had been held on remand at HMP Doncaster since his last arrest, but said he was putting himself to use by working in prison.
Mr Giles said Hargreaves had no father figure to set a good example and had failed to achieve any GCSEs.
But he said he was wanting to earn money and wants to train to become a bricklayer.
Judge Christopher Batty told Hargreaves: “You got bailed and you were out at it again. I’m afraid I’ve got to send you to prison today.”
He gave him a 32-month sentence and a driving ban of three years, four months.