Panicking Kinder Egg drug dealer ditched car and ran after routine Leeds police stop
A panicking drug dealer tried to flee on foot and throw his drugs away after a routine police stop.
But Timothy Payne was no match for the pursuing officer and was seen tossing the Kinder Egg container full of drugs under a hedge before being collared.
Thr 44-year-old, who has been jailed previously for drug dealing, admitted two counts of dealing in Class A drugs at Leeds Crown Court.
The court heard that police had been patrolling the Vesper Road area of Hawksworth on the afternoon of November 2 last year, when they followed the suspicious vehicle and then pulled it over on Lea Farm Drive.
Payne was in the passenger seat. He got out holding a small white package before appearing to climb back in. Officers felt he was trying to conceal something, before he got back out again and started running.
The chasing officer quickly detained Payne and found the Kinder Egg that contained wraps of heroin and crack cocaine. He was arrested, charged and held in custody. He appeared in court via video link from HMP Lincoln.
He has 27 previous convictions for 51 offences, and was given 26 months’ jail in 2023 for drug dealing.
Mitigating, Nicholas Hammond said: “He has to acknowledge that his only real mitigation is that he had the good sense to plead guilty.”
He said it was apparent that Payne, of Ashton Mount, Harehills, had a long-standing drug problem.
He added: “He was not drug-free when he was released [from his last prison sentence]. He started using drugs again, quickly built up a debt and put to work to pay off the debt and fund his own addiction.
“He knows he will receive a long custodial sentence.”
Judge Richard Mansell KC jailed him for 45 months.
The driver of the car was also charged, but the case was later dropped by the Crown, with Judge Mansell branding him lucky.