A DESPERATE drug dealer who took part in a knifepoint robbery attempt has been jailed for eight and a half years.

Shaun Labrum, 41, and his accomplice, Mathew Carling, 39, were sentenced at Bradford Crown Court today.

They were convicted by a jury in June after a six day trial of attempting to rob Rodney Maloney at his then flat in theWhinny Gill Road area of Skipton, at around 10pm on December 30 last year.

Labrum, formerly of Greatwood Avenue, Skipton, and Carling, of the town's Craven Street, were each imprisoned for four and a half years.

Simon McMinn, 38, from Greatwood Avenue, Skipton, was cleared by the jury of the attempted robbery.

Labrum was found not guilty of wounding Mr Maloney with intent to cause him grievous bodily harm.

He was sentenced to four years imprisonment, to run consecutively, for drugs offences.

He was on police bail at the time of the robbery attempt after his home was twice raided by the police, in July and September last year.

Labrum pleaded guilty to possession of heroin, possession with intent to supply £5,600 worth of crack cocaine, possession of MDMA, possession with intent to supply £3,570 worth of heroin and possession with intent to supply crack cocaine.

Judge Colin Burn made a confiscation order relating to £3,205 criminal cash seized by the police from Labrum's address.

Prosecutor Ian Howard told the court Mr Maloney was wounded to the finger and arm during the robbery attempt.

Labrum was carrying a knife and Carling wore a balaclava.

They fled empty handed after a struggle in the hallway.

The incident was reported to North Yorkshire Police just after 10pm. An operation involving armed officers located the suspects who had run away from the scene.

They were arrested before midnight and charged the next day.

Labrum had 19 previous convictions for drugs offences, including one for supplying Class A drugs. He also had a record for assaulting a police officer and causing actual bodily harm on two previous occasions.

Carling had convictions for possession of Class A drugs, actual bodily harm and unlawful wounding.

Katherine Robinson, mitigating for both men, said Carling played very much the secondary role in the attempted robbery, although it was a joint enterprise.

"It did have a background to a drugs transaction gone wrong and they felt aggrieved about that," she said.

Both men were long-standing drug addicts who had taken drugs on the day.

Labrum was no criminal mastermind but a drug user who had run up a debt to his dealer.

By the time of the robbery bid, he had lost his home and was "chaotic and desperate."

Carling was carer to his ill partner and had held down jobs in the past.

Judge Burn said it was difficult to tell who, if anyone, was telling the truth in the robbery case.

The men may have been after drugs, and or money, or wanting to complain about a bad quality of drugs they had been supplied.

After the sentencing hearing, Inspector Geoff Crocker, of the Skipton Safer Neighbourhood Team, said: “The imprisonment of Labrum and Carling is a satisfying outcome in this very worrying and violent case. They put the victim through a terrifying ordeal.

“This type of violent and menacing behaviour cannot be tolerated and the police officers involved in securing justice for the victim deserve a great deal of praise.”