Deadly drugs network in Scarborough run by gang from Leeds, court hears
A drugs network selling heroin and crack cocaine on the streets of a seaside town was being run by Leeds dealers, a court has been told.
A police operation unearthed a gang’s involvement in supplying the deadly substances to addicts in Scarborough, which was driven from Leeds, 60-plus miles away.
Around a dozen other suspects have admitted their part in the organised crime dating back to 2019. However, 31-year-old Daniel Newsome is standing trial at Leeds Crown Court this week denying any involvement, despite being caught in possession of a Nokia phone that was being used as a “dealer line” for the gang.
Opening the case, prosecutor Robert Stevenson said that a police investigation took place between April and November of 2019, centering around a suspect from Leeds who arranged for large amounts of illegal drugs to be taken from Leeds to Scarborough to be sold on the streets by a team of dealers.
He was put under surveillance and a recording device was placed in hire cars he used which Mr Stevenson said “gave a clear picture of what was going on”.
He said that the street dealers, which the Crown says included Newsome, used the Cravendale guest house in Scarborough in October 2019 to store drugs and also used it “as a base”. By late October, the “old-style” Nokia he says was in Newsome’s possession, because he made several calls to his mother from the phone.
Newsome was later arrested coming out of his room at the Rivelyn Hotel in Scarborough, after undercover police watched him meet with known users and appeared to sell them drugs. He was found with a capsule of crack cocaine, one of heroin and five tablets of the Class C drug, alprazolam. Around £256 in cash was found in the room he was staying, along with more drugs.
Newsome, of Britannia Street, Scarborough, maintains he was a drug user rather than a dealer. He initially told police the Nokia belonged to him, but when told the contents would be downloaded, he backtracked and claimed it belonged to another man and he had just borrowed it.
Newsome denies conspiracy to supply cocaine and heroin and possession with intent to supply a Class C drug. The trial continues and is expected to last until the end of the week.