A BRADFORD couple have each been jailed for three years after they were caught red-handed selling heroin to an undercover police officer working for Operation Errantdance.

Jason Rooney and Claire Wright were peddling Class A drugs for the city’s “ring and bring” K Line to fund their own long-standing addictions, Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday.

Rooney, 44, and Wright, 42, both of Springfield Place, Manningham, Bradford, failed to attend court following their arrests and were apprehended on warrants.

Wright was rebailed but Rooney was remanded to HMP Leeds and sentenced on a video link from the prison.

Both pleaded guilty to supplying heroin to law enforcement officer “Libby” on March 1 last year.

Prosecutor Gerald Hendron said the couple were snared by the Operation Errantdance police crackdown on mobile drug dealers in Bradford, between February and April last year.

They approached “Libby” on Midland Road in Manningham at 12.25pm and told her they were selling heroin and crack cocaine.

Mr Hendron said the pair were working for the K Line and were caught on camera trafficking two wraps of heroin for £20.

They were arrested at their flat in Springfield Place and made no reply when questioned by the police.

Rooney and Wright had lengthy criminal records for matters of dishonesty and both were subject to community orders for theft when they were selling the drugs, the court was told.

Ayman Khokhar, Rooney’s barrister, said his life had been blighted by drugs misuse.

Most of his offending had been committed to sustain his addiction.

He was fulfilling a limited function under the direction of others, being told where and when to deliver the drugs to waiting addicts.

Mr Khokhar said Rooney and Wright had been in a relationship for more than four years and would now been separated for a significant period of time. Shufqat Khan, Wright’s barrister, said she had kept out of trouble since her arrest.

She had been addicted to drugs for 24 years and had now sought professional help to stay clear of them.

“She has made a significant and concerted effort to change her ways,” Mr Khan said.

Wright had health issues that would make her time in prison during the Covid-19 pandemic very difficult.

Judge Jonathan Rose said that Rooney and Wright were dealing to fund their “poisonous addiction.” Those who became willing recruits for drug traffickers must understand that they would be locked up.