Leeds Crown Court round-up: Drug dealer, homophobic thug and getaway driver among criminals sentenced this week

Judges also dealt with the cases of a drunken mum who headbutted a police officer, a dangerous driver who travelled down the wrong side of a dual carriageway and a man caught with hundreds of incident images of children.

Among those sentenced this week were:

Nassir Ahmed

A drug dealer has been jailed for 11 years after police found a shotgun and 54 rounds, cocaine and cannabis in a car linked to his address.

Leeds Crown Court heard Nassir Ahmed was connected to the weapon by a single hair and the 32-year-old insisted he only used the car belonging to someone else to store drugs.

Sentencing him, Judge Geoffrey Marson said: "Dealing class A drugs is a vile trade. Those who are addicted burgle, rob and steal to feed their habit and it leads to significant problems and can sometimes lead to death."

Robbie McLaughlin

A dangerous driver who led police on two high-speed car chases - one down the wrong side of a dual carriageway - was sentenced this week.

Robbie McLaughlin drove through a red light near Armley Gyratory, before reaching speeds of 95mph on Stanningley Road

The 31-year-old, of Stratford Avenue, Beeston, was told by the sentencing judge that it was "only by sheer fortune that no one was injured".

Christopher Higson

The discovery of hundreds of indecent photographs of children on a man's phone has been branded a "sad indictment of society" by a judge.

Leeds Crown Court heard how police attended Christopher Higson's house after being alerted to indecent images being downloaded to his IP address.

The 60-year-old, of Blakey Grove, Wakefield, was found to have nearly 600 indecent images of children on his phone - 22 of which were the most serious category.

Darren Shaw

A burglar who stole power tools and scratchcards from a B&M store in Leeds was caught red-handed with the items when passing police officers recognised him from CCTV footage.

Darren Shaw, 40, of Burlington Road, Leeds, and a second man were recorded acting suspiciously outside the store during the early hours of May 3 this year.

He was later stopped by police with a drill hanging out of a pocket, another under his jacket and two more in a backpack.

Connor Russell

A man who went on a year-long rampage of violence, theft and homophobic harassment has been jailed after a judge labelled him "without mercy".

Connor Russell, 29, of Waggon Road, Middleton, tortured his neighbours with a 13-month campaign of homophobic abuse and threats of violence.

He was also charged for repeatedly punching and kicking a police officer, burgling 35 televisions from a lorry and carrying out a botched one-man warehouse raid.

Liam Johnson

A man has been sentenced after undercover police bought class A drugs from him on two separate occasions.

Liam Johnson, 22, of Cowper Terrace, Harehills, said he was intimidated into selling crack cocaine and heroin in order to repay debts built up from his own cannabis use.

Leeds Crown Court heard he would make £100 a day - half of which would go towards paying off his cannabis debts.

Nathan Hunt

The "getaway driver" for a drugs heist was persuaded to take part in the crime after being beaten by a group of youths, Leeds Crown Court was told.

Nathan Hunt, 30, of Meadow Bank Road, Rotherham, drove a gang of youths to burgle properties in Pontefract and South Elmsall on two occasions in November last year - as the first time they had got the wrong house.

When police officers later arrived at his home, Hunt made an attempt to get away but was stopped shortly after damaging two cars as he tried to reverse away.

Kelly Marsh

A drunken Leeds mum who headbutted a police officer has been ordered by a judge to "fix" her alcohol problem.

Officers found Kelly Marsh, of Compton Avenue, Harehills, causing a disturbance outside a property and throwing plant pots when they were called to an address Normanton in the early hours of February 13 this year.

As a male officer tried to put handcuffs on her, the 32-year-old lunged at him and headbutted him on the bridge of the nose.

Jason Webster

A serial handbag thief was warned by his own barrister that his sentences will increase unless he gets on top of his drug habit.

Jason Webster, 42, of Ascot Terrace, Burmantofts, stole three women's handbags at various food and drink establishments around town, as well as charging purchases worth more than £300 to stolen bank cards.

Rukshanda Hussain, mitigating, told the court: "He is getting older and his sentences will get longer if he continues this."