Taxi driver used by teen Leeds dealer to conduct business - until he drove off with his cocaine

The driver contacted his dispatch office for advice after Hashir Khan ordered him to drive around Beeston, but without giving him a destination. When Khan made him stop for a third time and got out at a petrol station, the driver took off, but still had Khan’s cocaine. The police were then called.

Khan ordered the taxi on December 17 last year to pick him up from Fulham Square in Beeston with an initial intention of going to White Rose, Leeds Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Harry Crowson said Khan appeared from behind a tree and got into the passenger seat, with a second male getting into the back.

But rather than go to White Rose, the 18-year-old said he would guide the driver to their destination, first stopping behind a mosque on Dewsbury Road when the second man got out, and a third male wearing a balaclava dropped a bag through the window to Khan.

He then asked the driver take him to the Family Shopper in Beeston when he got out and then got back in minutes later, then the Jet petrol garage where he got out again.

On advice of the taxi office, the driver then took off. The bag left behind contained 64 grammes of cocaine, and 900 grammes of a cutting agent.

However, Khan ordered another taxi and demanded to be taken to the depot. He was quickly detained by police when he arrived.

Khan, of Ingleton Street, Beeston, was disruptive, spitting in the back of the police van, in the station’s waiting area and in his cell. He then hit the cleaner with his trainer.

He later admitted dealing in cocaine, criminal damage and assault. No mitigation was offered by his barrister after Judge Christopher Batty said due to Khan’s paranoid schizophrenia diagnosis, he would follow the medical recommendation to detain him in hospital, rather than prison, until further notice.

Judge Batty told Khan: “You’re not well but luckily you are improving. The medication and assistance you are getting in hospital is helping.

"At the moment your schizophrenia is such that you should be detained under section 37 of the Mental Health Act.”