“LIVING the Dream” drug dealer Richard 'Bingy' Brown has been brought back in the dock at Bradford Crown Court for a confiscation hearing in which a co-conspirator admitted pocketing a share of £116,000.

Jaguar-driving Brown, 55, and 53-year-old Sherman Mallinson were described as “the controlling minds” of the plot that saw large quantities of high purity cocaine transported from West Yorkshire to South Yorkshire.

The pair, who had served long prison sentences in the past for similar offending, were jailed in September last year.

Brown pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine and was jailed for ten years and three months.

Mallinson, of Sceptre Grove, Doncaster, was locked up for 13 years after a jury found him guilty of the same charge.

John Lowcock, 44, of Doncaster Road, Tickhill, South Yorkshire, was jailed for nine years and two months after he admitted being involved in conspiracies to supply cocaine and amphetamine.

Prosecutor Stephen Wood told the sentencing hearing that a search was carried out at Brown’s address in Farfield Crescent, Buttershaw, Bradford, after a major police surveillance operation.

Officers seized a stash of cocaine worth about £30,000 as well as cutting agents and more than £8,000 in cash.

“Brown was the West Yorkshire connection from whom cocaine was purchased by Mallinson who then arranged for it to be transported to South Yorkshire where it was stored before being cut up and sold,” Mr Wood said.

Julie Firth, 50, was found guilty by a jury of knowingly permitting the home she shared with Brown to be used for the supply of cocaine.

She was given a suspended jail sentence with 180 hours of unpaid work and a curfew order.

Brown, who previously ran the Young Lion Café in Lumb Lane, Manningham, Bradford, wrote a novel based on his life entitled “Living the Dream” after completing a creative writing course.

In 2002, he was imprisoned for 11 years after undercover officers watched him make a £55,000 cocaine drop-off at Leeds Railway Station.

The three men were back in the dock at the crown court from prison last week for a confiscation hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Firth sat at the back of the room for the short hearing.

Lowcock conceded that the benefit from his criminality was £116,225. His available assets were set at just £235.

Mr Wood said that £70,000 of the benefit sum represented a joint figure with his accomplices. He said Brown and Firth’s financial position was “a little more complicated.”

The proceedings were adjourned for a three day hearing beginning on July 14 next year.

Until his earlier conviction, Brown had portrayed himself as a community leader who counted senior police officers among his closest contacts. Prior to his jailing in 2002, a detective superintendent and top police liaison officer had praised Brown's "public spirited behaviour", especially during the aftermath of Bradford's riots.