“Living the Dream” drug dealer Richard 'Bingy' Brown has had his Proceeds of Crime Act confiscation hearing adjourned again because the Covid-19 lockdown is preventing his lawyers from seeing him in prison.

Brown, 57, and his accomplice, Sherman Mallinson, were described as “the controlling minds” of a plot that saw large quantities of high purity cocaine transported from West Yorkshire into South Yorkshire.

Brown pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine and was jailed for ten years and three months in September, 2018.

Mallinson, 55, of Sceptre Grove, Doncaster, was locked up for 13 years after a jury found him guilty of the same charge after a trial.

Today, Brown was excused attendance at Bradford Crown Court when the three-day confiscation hearing was re-fixed by Judge Colin Burn. It will now begin on October 20.

Brown’s barrister, Glenn Parsons, said there were no visits or video links being allowed until June at the jail where he is being held. Several sessions would be needed to take full instructions from Brown, especially as there was a suggestion that he might have assets overseas.

In December, 2019, John Lowcock, 45, of Doncaster Road, Tickhill, South Yorkshire, admitted pocketing a share of £116,000 from the drugs plot. The court heard that £70,000 of the agreed benefit sum represented a joint figure with his accomplices. His available assets were set at just £235.

Lowcock was earlier jailed for nine years and two months after he admitted being involved in conspiracies to supply cocaine and amphetamine.

Julie Firth, 51, was found guilty by a jury of knowingly permitting the Bradford home she then 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.

Her POCA hearing was also adjourned until October 20.

The drugs conspiracy was uncovered when a search was carried out at Brown’s then ad-dress in 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, 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.