A ROUND-UP of cases at Bradford Crown Court this week

A DRUG dealer caught hiding a stash of heroin worth up to almost £240,000 in his untidy attic bedroom was jailed for six years.

Police found the haul, along with scales and cutting agents, when they broke into Afraz Sheikh’s locked room at his home in Nearcliffe Avenue, Bradford, on May 31, 2018.

The previous day, Sheikh and another man were stopped by the police in a black BMW on the southbound A168 near Dishforth, and £1,800 in cash and a bag of cannabis was seized.

When the police searched Sheikh’s bedroom, they discovered the high-purity heroin with a street value of up to almost £240,000, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Also seized was skunk cannabis and a block of cannabis, together worth up to £140, scales and a caffeine and paracetamol cutting agent to bulk up the heroin for sale in deals.

Sheikh, 31, told the police the money seized from him was to buy a car. He made no comment about the heroin.

He went on to plead guilty to possession with intent to supply heroin and simple possession of cannabis.

The court heard in mitigation that Sheikh knew he would receive a significant prison sentence.

He had previous convictions for matters of dishonesty, driving offences and possession of cannabis resin but nothing for trafficking drugs.

Judge Jonathan Rose said a tragic aspect to the case was the death of Sheikh’s brother.

A moving letter had been written to the court by Sheikh’s mother who was horrified by the idea of her son going to prison.

Judge Rose said Sheikh had been persuaded to join the drug trafficking enterprise to pay off a very substantial debt run up by another person.

“You agreed to go along with this, bringing pain on your family and yourself,” he said.

The heroin was of 63 per cent purity, making it of significant value. And Sheikh’s role was not just to store it. He took an active part in the organisation, making his role a significant one, motivated by financial gain.

Judge Rose said he was so moved by the letter from Sheikh’s mother that he would reduce the starting point for the sentence from nine years to eight.

She faced the prospect of having lost one son and seeing another go to prison.

He then gave Sheikh 25 per cent credit for pleading guilty.

A CLUBGOER suffered a life-threatening head injury when he was punched to the ground on his way to McDonald’s in Keighley town centre, Bradford Crown Court heard.

He was transferred from Airedale Hospital to Leeds General Infirmary where emergency surgery was carried out to treat a large skull fracture and bleeding on the brain.

The court was told that James Dyminski, the man who struck him, had undergone a personality change that made him unable to control his temper after he was beaten with an iron rod in an unprovoked attack in 2014.

Dyminski, 21, of The Fairways, Keighley, was later assaulted again by the same man and his mother had since been demanding medical help for him.

He was given a Hospital Order by Judge Richard Mansell QC after earlier admitting Section 20 unlawful wounding.

Prosecutor Ayman Khokhar said the victim left K2 Nightclub in Church Street, Keighley, at 4am on September 21 last year after taking a taxi into the town from Saltaire the previous night.

He was walking to McDonald’s with Dyminski, who he did not know, and others when he made a light-hearted remark that caused the defendant to punch him in the face. He fell to the ground on Lawkholme Lane hitting his head on the kerb.

As he lay unresponsive in the street, Dyminski knelt beside him and burst into tears, Mr Khokhar told the court.

Dyminski handed himself into Trafalgar House Police Station in Bradford where he tested positive for cocaine. Psychiatric reports were later prepared.

Mr Khokhar said the victim was aware of the court hearing but did not want to attend or to provide an impact statement.

Dyminski’s solicitor advocate, Julian White, said it was a tragic case.

“He was a hardworking, conscientious and peaceable young man until he was assaulted,’ he stated.

“His mother has been tenacious in the extreme to get him some help.”

Judge Mansell said Dyminski sustained a very serious brain injury almost six years ago when he was beaten with an iron rod. His attacker had then assaulted him again but had never been brought to justice.

Dyminski was in breach of a suspended sentence for assault occasioning actual bodily harm and affray imposed in 2018.

Judge Mansell said he had read “a heart-breaking letter” from his mother saying he had made two attempts on his life after suffering the change in personality.

It had taken two convictions for assault to get him the medical treatment he urgently needed.

Judge Mansell said there was a bed available at the hospital where Dyminski had been treated for the last few months.

A HEAVY Spice and skunk cannabis user who drew an expandable baton in a Bradford street was spared jail after returning to his religion while on remand in prison.

Anwar Miah, who is now drug-free, said: “God bless you. Have a good day,” to Judge Richard Mansell QC when he gave him the chance to rebuild his life away from the city.

Miah, 35, formerly of Moorgate Avenue, Bradford Moor, Bradford, but now moving to Leeds, pleaded guilty to possession of the police-style baton on May 20.

It was his third conviction for possession of an offensive weapon in a public place, prosecutor Richard Walters told Bradford Crown Court.

Miah turned up unexpectedly at a woman’s home after she had helped him when he collapsed in a café doorway in possession of two kitchen knives.

His bizarre behaviour had also included incidents when he jumped from an upstairs window at his home and made threatening gestures with a home-made flame thrower, the court heard.

The woman was shocked to see Miah when he called round in the morning. He asked “where is my ring?” referring to a copper nut he had given her.

He then drew the baton from his waistband and extended it before he was dragged away by another man.

The woman locked her door and photographed Miah who was out in the street.

He was seen with the baton on Dalby Avenue and arrested on Upper Rushdon Street. Miah had discarded the weapon but it was recovered from an alleyway by the police.

In her victim personal statement, the woman said the incident had caused fear and distress.

Miah’s criminal record of 29 offences included dangerous driving, handling stolen goods and possession with intent to supply drugs.

His barrister, Jessica Heggie, said Miah’s psychiatrist said he may have been suffering from drug-induced psychosis.

“He has a history of bizarre behaviour,” Miss Heggie said.

Miah had been in custody since June. He was now drug free and determined to put his offending behind him.

Judge Mansell said Anwar’s “bizarre and dangerous behaviour” may have been sparked by long-term drug use that had affected his mental health.

Anwar told the police he was carrying the baton to protect himself from drug dealers he owed money to.

Judge Mansell said he was now “clean” and had returned to religion while in prison on remand.

Anwar was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, with a nine month Drug Rehabilitation Order and attendance on the Thinking Skills Programme.

A five-year restraining order keeps him away from the woman’s home and from contacting her or her father.

AN argument over a cup of coffee provoked a man into drawing a knife, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Philip Mitchell got into an “utterly ridiculous” row over where it could be drunk, the judge sentencing him said.

Mitchell, 46, pleaded guilty to having a knife in the car park at Beacon House in North Avenue, Manninham, Bradford, on July 29 last year.

When he turned up late for the sentencing hearing, he was given a dressing down for that and for “stupidly” producing the weapon.

“It was an argument about where a person can drink coffee. It was utterly ridiculous, a petty matter,” Judge Jonathan Rose told Mitchell.

Mitchell, 46, of Roach Avenue, York, was sentenced to 20 months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, with a six month Drug Rehabilitation Requirement and 20 Rehabilitation Activity Days with the probation service.

Judge Rose said he was able to spare him an immediate jail sentence because no injury was caused with the knife.

The offence took place more than a year ago and Mitchell had stayed out of trouble since.

He had no record for violence and his last conviction of any sort was some years ago.

Judge Rose said Mitchell’s physical and mental health problems meant he would struggle behind bars.

But he warned him that any breach of the order would lead to him going straight to prison.

A WANTED paedophile was arrested at Leeds/Bradford Airport on a flight from Amsterdam after file-sharing indecent images of young girls.

Thomas Fuller, 58, was caught hoarding pictures of children as young as 11 being sexually abused when the police raided his home as part of the West Yorkshire force’s Operation Noblebridge.

Fuller, of Aire View Terrace, Low Spring Road, Thwaites Brow, Keighley, was given a suspended sentence order almost three and a half years after he was arrested at the airport on April 5, 2017.

He pleaded guilty to three charges of making indecent images of children, one count of possession of extreme pornographic images of people having sex with animals, and distribution of indecent images of children.

Prosecutor Camille Morland told Bradford Crown Court that Fuller had previous convictions for dishonesty and harassment but nothing for sexual matters.

All the offences took place before February 4, 2017, when the Operation Noblebridge team searched his home and seized a laptop computer and a computer tower.

Fuller was in the Philippines at the time and was circulated as wanted by the police.

Miss Morland said that the computers contained four category A videos of men having sex with girls aged 11 to 16, two category B videos of girls being sexually abused, and 60 indecent still and moving images of children at category C.

There were also 16 extreme pornographic images of bestiality.

The court heard that a small number of Category C files had been downloaded on to file-sharing software.

Fuller’s barrister, Oliver Jarvis, said he spent four months a year in the Philippines staying with a friend he had known since they were teenagers.

Following Fuller’s arrest in April, 2017, he wasn’t arrested again until October, 2019. He was then summonsed to court in May this year.

“There was a considerable delay,” Mr Jarvis said during which Fuller had not reoffended.

He now had no internet connection at his home and led “an isolated and lonely existence.”

Mr Jarvis said Fuller provided care for his elderly mother.

“He is keen to engage and address his offending,” he told the court.

Mr Jarvis said it wasn’t a case involving thousands of illegal images of children and there were a very limited number of category A images.

Judge Andrew Hatton sentenced Fuller to nine months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, with a two-year community order that included a rehabilitation activity requirement.

He must register with the police as a sex offender for ten years and Judge Hatton mad a seven-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Fuller was also ordered to pay £500 prosecution costs.

Judge Hatton warned him that the police and Border Security Forces would be monitoring his whereabouts.

TWO company directors are to stand trial on November 1 next year accused of manslaughter after a member of staff at their landscaping firm died in an incident involving a robotic arm.

Michael Hall and Rodney Slater, as well as their firm Deco-Pak Ltd, pleaded not guilty at Bradford Crown Court.

The garden building supplier, based at Deco House in Halifax Road, Hipperholme, was charged with corpo-rate manslaughter following the death of Andrew Tibbott, aged 48, on April 14, 2017.

Hall, 63 of Hullen Edge Lane, Elland, and Slater, 60, of Wellbank View, Rochdale, were both rebailed by Judge Richard Mansell QC.

The trial is expected to last up to five weeks and has been listed as a fixture at Bradford Crown Court.