TWO Sully Line drug dealers were jailed for a total of eight and a half years as part of Operation Errantdance – a major police sting to snare street traffickers in the Bradford East area.
Darren Perrow, already serving a six year and nine month sentence for peddling cocaine and heroin, was locked up for three and a half years at Bradford Crown Court.
His co-accused Leon Williams was jailed for five years for drug dealing and burgling a 75-year-old man’s home.
Williams, 36, of Parsonage Road, Laisterdyke, Bradford, left the pensioner devastated when he knocked his wife’s ashes on to the floor while ransacking his home.
Perrow, 50, of Rochester Street, Shipley, pleaded guilty to nine charges of dealing heroin and crack cocaine to undercover police officer “Emily” in March and April.
Williams admitted five offences of dealing Class A drugs to Emily, burgling the house in Cranbrook Street, West Bowling, Bradford, on March 22, and burgling a house in Rooley Lane on July 11.
Prosecutor Alisha Kaye said Perrow, who was handcuffed to a dock officer, had 43 convictions for 127 offences. He was a “third strike” Class A drug dealer, jailed in June after he was caught drug dealing on April 12 and May 8 in Lumb Lane and Oak Lane, Manningham.
Miss Kaye said that Perrow also dealt drugs to the undercover officer on nine occasions between March 13 and April 16. He was working for the Sully Line and joined by Williams some of the time.
Williams also sold drugs to Emily when he was alone in a VW Golf.
Emily bought wraps of heroin and crack cocaine from the defendants for £7 each, watching them supplying to other addicts waiting to be served.
Miss Kaye said Williams burgled the pensioner’s home when he went out for the evening.
He broke the burglar alarm and threw a stone through a glass door panel to break into the address.
Williams did £550 damage and escaped with £830 of property, including the television set.
During the untidy search, he knocked over the urn containing the ashes of the man’s late wife.
Miss Kaye said finding the ashes on the floor was devasting for the widower. He had since missed three family holidays because he was too afraid to leavehis home in case he was burgled again.
Perrow’s solicitor advocate, Amarpal Singh, said his client turned to Class A drugs when he lost in father in 2008.
He was already serving a lengthy prison sentence for trafficking drugs at the same time and it would be unjust to treat him as a “third striker.”
Jayne Beckett, for Williams, said he had no previous convictions for drug dealing or house burglary.
He felt nothing but shame for the offences and was determined to make a fresh start in life.
Judge Jonathan Rose told the men: “You two are a classic example of the devastation of Class A drugs.”
Addicts like Perrow and Williams had to resort to crime to fuel their habit, either by selling drugs on the streets or committing offences of burglary and theft.
“The decent citizens of Bradford are the victims of your crime so that you can fund your addiction,” Judge Rose said.
Perrow was jailed for 42 months to run concurrently with his present sentence.
Williams was imprisoned for 41 months for drug dealing and 19 months for burglary, the sentences to run consecutively, making five years in all.
A PERSISTENT paedophile has been jailed again for hoarding and file-sharing indecent images of young girls.
Robin Doherty was storing pictures of men raping children as young as four, Bradford Crown Court heard.
Doherty, 53, was imprisoned for two years and eight months after the police broke into his then address in Crosley Wood Road, Bingley, on May 8 last year and seized hundreds of indecent images.
Prosecutor Clare Walsh said he had pleaded guilty to three offences of making indecent photographs and a count of possessing a prohibited image of a child.
Mrs Walsh said that police acting on information forced their way into Doherty’s home and took away computers and a memory stick. When he turned up, the officers confiscated his phone and that too contained images of child abuse.
In all, there were 69 Category A images, 51 at Category B and 1,178 at Category C.
The hoard included still and moving images of children aged between four and 16.
Doherty, of Parkwood Court, Keighley, was in breach of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order imposed at Leeds Crown Court when he was jailed for five years in March 2010 for 18 offences of making, possessing and distributing indecent images.
At that time, he had a photographic studio in Brook Street, Ilkley, and was paid to take indecent pictures of teenage girls.
He negotiated with children as young as 13 to have sex with him on camera for cash.
A 16-year-old girl went to Doherty’s studio where she started with fashion shots and ended with naked shots. She was paid £300.
At a second session, Doherty photographed the girl in indecent poses.
After this session, he contacted the teenager’s sister, who was 14 at the time, and her friend, who was 13.
Doherty offered £1,000 to each girl to have sex with him, and possibly another man, and for the session to be recorded.
The court heard that one of the girls sent him indecent pictures of herself as she considered the offer.
The session never went ahead and Doherty was caught when one of the girls’ relatives intercepted one of his messages.
Police found thousands of child abuse images on Doherty’s computer that had been downloaded.
Mrs Walsh said that Doherty masked his IP address to avoid being detected in his latest offending.
When he knew he had been caught, he told the police: “How did you find out? I will be going to prison again.”
Doherty’s solicitor advocate, John Bottomley, said his client had been diagnosed with autism by a psychiatrist.
Mr Bottomley said that attending a three year sex offender treatment programme run by the probation service would better serve the community than locking Doherty up again.
But Judge Jonathan Rose disagreed.
“Any right-thinking person would be disgusted and horrified by your offending: this court is disgusted and horrified,” he said.
During Doherty’s lengthy jail sentence, he had received treatment for his paedophilia but he had continued to offend.
He was storing pictures of men having sex with children as young as four.
Doherty had later complained about the course he received behind bars.
“You didn’t like the Sex Offender Treatment Programme in prison. You thought it was horrible,” Judge Rose told him.
Doherty should have heeded the course and made the decision to stop offending. Instead, he had used various different devices to file share hundreds of indecent images of children, hiding his IP address.
Judge Rose made a Sexual Harm Prevention Order without limit of time and Doherty must sign on the sex offender register indefinitely.
A DANGER driver with an “appalling record” for motoring offences has been warned by the judge jailing him: “You need to stop before somebody dies.”
Pedestrians on Kirkgate had to jump clear as Marek Kasprowicz sped through Bradford city centre with a burst front tyre and a patrol car on his tail.
After he abandoned his Ford Focus and fled down Grammar School Street, the police found an extendable baton in a holder in the driver’s door pocket, Bradford Crown Court heard.
Kasprowicz, 23, of Stone Street, Bradford city centre, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving while disqualified and without a licence, and possession of an offensive weapon.
He was jailed for a total of 20 months, plus nine weeks’ consecutive for breach of a suspended sentence for driving offences.
The court heard that police on patrol in Shearbridge Road, Bradford, at 12.45pm on Sunday, January 13, saw the Ford Focus turning away to avoid them.
They activated their siren and blue lights and pursued the car along Legrams Lane, Ingleby Road, Thornton Road, Grattan Road, John Street, Upper Piccadilly and Kirkgate on to Manor Row where the vehicle was abandoned.
During the chase, Kasprowicz did 70mph down Thornton Road, clipped a vehicle wing mirror, cut across traffic, drove on the pavement and jumped red lights.
He continued to speed along on the metal wheel rim after the front tyre burst.
Kasprowicz had three previous convictions for nine offences, including driving over the prescribed limit, driving while disqualified and driving uninsured.
He absconded in July, failing to attend Bradford Crown Court for trial on the offensive weapon charge and being arrested on a warrant.
Nadim Bashir said in mitigation that it was not a protracted chase.
But he conceded: “It is a miracle that no one was injured.”
The court heard that Kasprowicz was currently serving an 18 month jail sentence imposed by Bradford and Keighley magistrates for driving over the prescribed limit and without insurance or a licence on November 28.
Judge Jonathan Rose told him: “You need to stop before somebody dies.”
Kasprowicz had an “appalling record” for driving offences, refusing to obey the laws of the country.
“Prison is the only place for dangerous drivers convicted as a result of a police pursuit,” Judge Rose said.
“The citizens of Bradford are frightened of bad drivers like you and they have every right to be frightened.”
Kasprowicz had then absconded, wasting time and money, before admitting the offensive weapon charge just before he was sentenced.
He was jailed for 14 months for dangerous driving, four months for possession of an offensive weapon, and two months for jumping court bail, all to run consecutively.
A “third strike” drug dealer caught selling heroin and crack cocaine for the Ali Line was locked up for six years.
Sajid Khan became the seventh Class A drug trafficker in less than a week to be jailed at Bradford Crown Court as a result of undercover police sting Operation Errantdance.
Khan, 39, of Chellow Grange Road, Heaton, Bradford, pleaded guilty to supplying heroin to law enforcement officer “Libby” on March 23 and dangerous driving and possession of heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply four days later.
Khan’s criminal record included four previous convictions for dangerous driving and three of trafficking Class A drugs, along with driving while disqualified and offences of dishonesty.
Prosecutor Philip Adams told the court that Khan was given the tag name “Fiesta” by the police while he was working for the Ali Line, although he was driving a silver Ford Focus.
Libby ordered two wraps of heroin from the drug dealing line on March 23 and waited on Midland Road, Manningham, before moving to outside the Bradford City FC stadium to meet Khan.
He pulled up in the Focus at 11am and sold her two wraps of heroin for £10.
On March 29, the police spotted the Focus on White Abbey Road, Bradford. It was in a poor state of repair and jumped a red light while it was under observation.
The car stopped on Farcliffe Place in Manningham but sped away when a police officer approached.
A blue light chase ensued along Toller Lane and Lilycroft Road. Khan narrowly missed two vehicles and went 56mph in a 30 zone.
He crashed into a wall on Westfield Lane and fled on foot.
The police found him hiding in the back room of a shop on Duckworth Lane in possession of 32 wraps of heron and crack cocaine, worth £130, £45 in cash and a crack pipe.
A phone seized from the car had evidence of contact with the Ali Line, Mr Adams said.
Khan’s barrister, Mohammed Rafiq, said he had pleaded guilty to all the offences.
He became involved in “a tangled web” of drug use and debts to pay to the dealers.
Khan had a wife and young child and Mr Rafiq asked for “light at the end of the tunnel” to allow him to become a better husband and father.
Judge Jonathan Rose jailed Khan for a total of six years and banned him from driving for seven years.
The judge said he put his own needs above his family and the community in which he was living when he went out selling drugs on the streets and risked lives by driving dangerously.
A MAN who terrified his former partner with more than a hundred intimidating phone calls after attacking her in her home was jailed for 31 months.
Steven Belsten sneered at the judge jailing him at Bradford Crown Court for breaching a restraining order just hours after it was made.
Belsten, 30, who was remanded in prison, had previous convictions for battery, breach of a non-molestation order and common assault.
Prosecutor Martin Robertshaw said that Belsten was ordered to comply with a five-year restraining order and a community order when he was convicted of battery on September 27.
But the same day, he was ringing his victim threatening to damage the home where she lived with her children and saying: “You’re dead.”
He made 60 calls in one day and 38 on another, verbally abusing the frightened mother.
Between October 1 and 8, there were 51 missed calls and Belsten continued to phone after being warned by a police officer present at the house. He made ten more calls that day, Mr Robertshaw said, on one occasion making “growling sounds.”
The victim became depressed and afraid, saying she felt like a prisoner in her own home. She was “scared stiff and constantly on edge,” the court was told.
When questioned by the police, Belsten said it wasn’t him making the phone calls.
Mr Robertshaw said the battery offence happened in June after Belsten had shouted threats and abuse outside the woman’s home.
He climbed in through the kitchen window in the early hours, grabbed the woman’s hair and dragged her downstairs.
She was shouting for help to the police on her phone as she punched her.
Belsten then squeezed her face so hard that she couldn’t breathe and dragged her back upstairs in front of her children who had been woken by the disturbance.
The police then arrived to apprehend Belsten who was remanded in custody.
His barrister, Christopher Dunn, said there had been “a seismic shift” in Belsten’s attitude since he was arrested.
His drug addiction was wildly out of control at the time and he was now free from illegal substances. He was desperate at the time and not in his right mind.
Belsten was remorseful and very anxious to build bridges with his children.
“This was horrible and nobody knows that more than him, and he’s deeply ashamed,” Mr Dunn said.
Judge Jonathan Rose told Belsten he had been lucky to escape a prison sentence for the battery offence.
That very day, he breached the court orders, making more than a hundred calls in a short period of time.
“You are sneering as I speak to you,” Judge Rose said.
“You have pestered, harassed, intimidated and frightened this woman.”
Judge Rose made a new life-long restraining order to protect Belsten’s victim and revoked the community order imposed by the magistrates.
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