Couple locked up over doorstep drug dealing operation at their family home in Beeston

Officers found around £50,000 worth of cocaine, crack cocaine and heroin when they searched two houses in Beeston.

Mark McGregor and Samantha Rimmington were jailed for a total of more than seven years after pleading guilty to four counts of possessing a class A drug with intent to supply.

Leeds Crown Court heard West Yorkshire Police obtained a search warrant after an officer reported suspicious activity at one of their homes on Longroyd Avenue.

The officer observed people approaching the house and knocking on the door before a drug deal was done on the doorstep.

Officers went to the terraced house on July 21 last year.

Both defendants were in the property with their two young children.

The house was searched and cocaine worth more than £4,000 was recovered along with wraps of cocaine and heroin worth £650.

Large amounts of cash were also found in different parts of the house.

As the search was being carried out two men knocked on the door and asked for McGregor by his first name.

McGregor said to the men: "No graft today lads, the police are here."

Evidence was found at the house which linked the couple to a second house a few streets away on Longroyd Terrace.

The court heard the property was well decorated and appeared to be a family home.

Pictures of the defendants and family members were on the mantelpiece and letters addressed to the pair were in the house.

That house was searched and crack cocaine worth £24,000 and cocaine worth £22,000 was found.

Large amounts of cutting agents, including boric acid, was also found.

A drug valuation expert estimated that the drugs could be worth as much as up to £192,000 if mixed with the cutting agents and sold in individual deals.

McGregor, 43, and Rimmington, 35, denied living at the Longroyd Terrace house when interviewed.

But further investigation linked them to the property.

Pictures were found on Rimmington's Facebook account of her in the property with family members.

The account had been used to advertise cars for sale and contained images of vehicles parked outside the house.

The defendants' mobile phones were seized and found to contain text messages relating to drug dealing.

Messages included McGregor asking Rimmington about "stock levels" and "bagging up".

Texts discussing the presence of the police in the area were also found.

Mathew Cullen, for McGregor, said his client accepted that he would receive a lengthy prison sentence.

Mr Cullen said McGregor began selling drugs after he got into debt when his business buying and selling cars began to struggle.

Shila Whitehead, for Rimmington, said she had not played the lead role in the illegal operation and described her client as "easily led."

The barrister said: "To have a quiet life she agreed to do what was asked of her.

"She now accepts that she should have questioned it."

McGregor was jailed for four years and ten months.

Rimmington was jailed for two years and three months.

Sentencing, Recorder Anesh Pema told the defendants that the offending was made worse by the fact the drugs were being kept in a house where their children were.