Leeds gun handler returned to jail for dealing in drugs after armed-response ambush
Officers were waiting for him on a residential street
A man jailed for storing a gun at his home has been returned to jail after he was caught selling cocaine.
Ben Campbell was told by a judge at Leeds Crown Court that he knew the consequences for peddling Class A drugs.
The 42-year-old appeared in court this week over a video link from HMP Leeds.
Prosecutor Joel Wootten said the armed police team targeted Campbell’s VW Golf on Cobden Place in Lower Wortley on June 1.
He got out and ran but was found hiding in a nearby garden and arrested.
They searched his home on Pinder Street in Farnley and found bags of cocaine worth up to £700, chemicals used to cut the drug and maximise profits, weighing scales, a list of names and a shoebox full of cash bundles.
Campbell gave a prepared statement claiming the drugs were for personal use and the money came from the sale of gold bullion.
He later admitted dealing in Class A drugs, and possession of criminal property - the money.
Campbell was jailed for the mandatory five-years in 2024 after a gun and live ammunition was found at a property in Bramley. The occupant was arrested and jailed.
DNA on the Slovakian-made Grand Power pistol matched Campbell.
Mitigating for his latest offences, barrister Alasdair Campbell said his client “would not make the same mistake again”.
He said he was close to his son and helped others in life, but no details were disclosed.
Judge Kate Rayfield told him: “There’s only one sentence I can pass today. You were making an awful lot of money out of it.”
She jailed him for three years and nine months.