Leeds cannabis dealer jailed after police chase crash
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Andrew Thompson, 31, was jailed for two years after a court heard he jumped from the moving vehicle before it crashed into a parked car as he tried to escape.
Carmel Pearson, prosecuting, told Leeds Crown Court how Thompson was followed by police after he was seen driving above the speed limit along Hamilton Place, Chapeltown, on May 1 this year.
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Hide AdOfficers signalled for him to stop but he sped off in the VW Transporter. Thompson drove on the wrong side of the road along Spencer Place, causing a taxi driver to make an emergency stop to avoid a collision.
Thompson jumped from the vehicle on Gathorne Street. The van struck some bollards before crashing into a parked car. Thompson threw a bag into a garden as he ran off. An officer managed to detain him. The garden was then searched and the bag was found. It contained seven packages of cannabis.
Officers searched the vehicle and a tin containing a further 40 packages was found. The total street value of the drugs was £570. Thompson, of Gathorne Terrace, Chapeltown, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and possession of cannabis with intent to supply. He has previous convictions for drug offences. He has served a prison sentence for supplying cocaine.
Stuart Field, mitigating, said Thompson accepted he would be facing a prison sentence because of his previous convictions.
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Hide AdJailing Thompson, judge James Spencer, QC, said: “Your last sentence was 40 months in total. On that occasion it was for class A drugs.
“This time it is cannabis but it is still a significant matter when you would have been employed as street-dealing drug pusher.”
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