Drug dealer took over couple's Wakefield home and used violence to control them
He shattered a resident’s jaw over a money dispute
A dealer who took over a couple’s home and threatened them with violence later shattered the man’s jaw in a savage assault.
Reece Cockroft gave the couple crack cocaine and had used their home to “bag up” his drug deals ready for selling.
He was jailed at Leeds Crown Court this week after admitting two counts of supplying Class A drugs and ABH.
Prosecutor Mollie Briggs said the drug-addicted couple lived in Wakefield and Cockroft became their dealer, attending their property regularly.
The 21-year-old then began to use the home “as if it it was his own”, with the couple later telling police they witnessed him assemble 300 or 400 deals ready to be sold to addicts.
They themselves were given free crack cocaine in exchange.
Ms Briggs said the couple were in fear of Cockroft and if they pretended not to be in, he would continue banging on the door until they answered.
He would also threaten them and made threats to harm their dog, boasting he attacked a dog before.
Indeed, he was jailed last year for cruelly slashing a dog with a machete.
In October last year, he got drunk and became aggressive, smashing a window with a metal bar and threatened the terrified couple with the weapon.
He punched the woman but left when they lied and said the police were coming.
Then on October 13, he accused the pair of owning him money and he punched the man to the face and threatened to set the house on fire.
After he left, the couple finally rang the police and Cockroft was arrested. They found drug paraphernalia but no drugs.
The victim was found to have to have several fractures to his jaw bone with fragments coming loose, which required surgery.
He also suffered lasting nerve damage.
Cockroft, of no fixed address, appeared in court this week over a video link from HMP Leeds, where he was being held on remand.
He has seven convictions for 14 offences, including violence, coercive control and possession of drugs.
Mitigating, Jonathan Turner said Cockroft was homeless at the time and had been staying at a hostel having being released prison from his last sentence.
Bizarrely, he said that due to his bail conditions, Cockroft was unable to get a job in his usual line of work as a warehouse operative.
Mr Turner said he began to take drugs, and began selling to feed his own habit.
Judge Tahir Khan KC gave him a six-year jail sentence.