Dealer rented two Wakefield village flats to grow and store drugs in 'very profitable' business
A dealer rented out two properties in a block of flats to grow cannabis and store large amounts of crack cocaine and heroin, which a judge said was clearly a lucrative business.
Nicky Nicholls had created a “sophisticated” set up, installing metal gates on the door and CCTV cameras to capture anyone approaching the building on Station Court in Streethouse.
Acting on intelligence, police raided the building on September 27 last year, trying to force entry, but were held back by the steel gate across Nicholls’ door, Leeds Crown Court heard.
Nicholls, who was asleep at the time with his girlfriend, unlocked the gate at the request of the officers.
Once inside, they searched the property and found weighing scales, Rolex watches and safe that contained bundles of cash totalling more than £11,000.
They also found a machine used for stripping buds from cannabis plants that was soiled, leaving traces of the drug around the flat.
They then found a key for another flat in the block, where they found 54 cannabis plants and the usual set up of lights and transformers.
A large plastic tub containing 10 “golf ball-size” packs of individually-wrapped heroin and cocaine deals was located.
Another golf-ball pack was found in a Ford C-Max along with an iPhone containing messages clearly related to dealing.
The second flat also contained more scales, cutting agents and dealer bags.
An investigation found that 46-year-old Nicholls’ had paid cash monthly to rent the two flats from Clifton Properties, despite the second being in another name.
During his interview, Nicholls gave a prepared statement denying all knowledge of the drugs. He claimed a friend had also borrowed the Ford C-Max and the cash found in the first flat was from savings for a holiday.
Nicholls has 38 previous convictions for 87 offences, but only one for drugs. He was jailed for 54 months in 2021 for burglary.
He admitted two counts of dealing in Class A drugs, production of a Class B drug and possession of criminal property.
Mitigating, Shannon Woodley conceded that Nicholls was heavily convicted, but said he had fallen into a pattern of offending early in his life due to a drug habit.
He had since conquered that habit, but was unable to find a job having been banned from driving, leaving him in a “dire financial situation”.
She said of his drug dealing: “He felt it was his only option. He very much regrets what he became involved in.”
Judge Robin Mairs told Nicholls: “The entire ambit of production and supply was taking place.
“You were clearly running a very profitable drug organisation. There were sizeable quantities of drugs found.
“It was paying well and you anticipated it would pay well.”
He said the £11,000 recovered was “just a snapshot” of what Nicholls was making, and added: “You were not just bumping around at the bottom, scraping by.”
He jailed him for six years and eight months.