Dealer dad found with drugs worth £12,000 at his family home in Leeds
A dealer stashed drugs worth up to £12,000 at his family home later said it was his “only option” to raise money for his family.
Police had gone to the home of Aaron Watson-Ellis looking for his brother, but suspicions grew when he told them his brother was abroad and would not let the officers inside.
Leeds Crown Court heard that Watson-Ellis had been previously convicted of dealing in Class A drugs.
He was jailed this week after he admitted dealing in crack cocaine, heroin and cannabis, and possessing criminal property.
The officers had gone to the property on Lincombe Drive in Gledhow on August 27 last year, prosecutor John Hobley told the court.
After eventually letting the officers in, they conducted a search and found stashes of drugs in his bedroom and in the garden shed. They found 717 grammes of cannabis, 42 grammes of heroin and 32 grammes of crack cocaine.
They also found grip-seal bags, scales and a Samurai sword. The value of the three drugs found was estimated to be worth between £5,600 and £12,000.
Cash totalling £7,240 was also recovered.
A probation report found that dad-of-two Watson-Ellis had been struggling financially at the time, said he had two jobs in a restaurant and as a delivery driver, but had to give them up to look after his partner who suffers ill health.
He said he felt it was his “only option” to sell drugs.
Mitigating, Martin Morrow said Watson-Ellis had been on remand since August, so had already served the equivalent to a 12-month sentence, given that defendants are usually released at the half-way stage.
Judge Simon Phillips KC jailed him for 48 months, telling him his offending was aggravated by previous convictions for selling drugs.