A DRUG dealer has been jailed after police found wraps of crack cocaine bound to his shorts during a search.

Joe Crosdale, 23, of Idlethorp Way, Idle, Bradford, was a front seat passenger in a blue BMW 3 Series, with three other men, on Manningham Lane, which police officers believed were acting suspiciously at 2.20pm on March 14, 2019.

When the driver of the car saw that police officers were looking to stop them, the car mounted a pavement and drove off.

A police pursuit then took place and the BMW was eventually stopped by officers at the car park of Eccleshill Sports & Social Club.

Officers found that the car smelled of cannabis, which lead to a search but nothing was found in the vehicle.

Crosdale left the car, ran away from police officers but was later stopped and arrested. He opted to make no comment during his initial police interview.

A total of 19 wraps of cocaine in bags, with a total street value of £190, were subsequently found on Crosdale following an intimate search of him by officers at Trafalgar House Police Station in Bradford. The bags of cocaine were wrapped in clingfilm and bound in Crosdale’s shorts, Bradford Crown Court heard on Wednesday.

The wraps which were seized were divided into single gram weight packages.

Crosdale has 12 previous convictions for 17 previous offences.

He pleaded guilty to the charge at a hearing held at Bradford & Keighley Magistrates’ Court on September 29 this year.

A mobile phone belonging to Crosdale was also seized by officers, and found to contain 19 text messages which were sent from the device. These texts were indicative of drug dealing and referred to quantities of drugs, the court heard.

He was jailed for 20 months for one charge of possession with intent to supply a controlled drug of Class A - crack cocaine. This sentence will run consecutively to the four-year term he is currently serving in prison, after being sentenced for six offences in June 2020. He appeared via video link from prison for the sentencing hearing in Bradford.

Adam Keenaghan, in mitigation, told the court that Crosdale was 21, naive and immature at the time of the offence in 2019.

Mr Keenaghan said: “He was an offender addicted to the drug he was dealing.

“At the time of the offence, he had not long since lost his mother and his life took a downward turn and he stumbled into a wrong path and turned to drugs and alcohol to manage his emotions at the time.

“The offences were to feed his own habit. There has been a two-year delay in this case, not of his own making. He is still a very young man.”

Mr Keenaghan added since being in prison Crosdale is no longer addicted to drugs and has completed an industrial cleaning course.

Sentencing, Judge Ahmed Nadim told Crosdale: “The occupants of the car were conducting themselves in a manner which created suspicion among the police officers.

“The mobile phone had messages indicative you had been dealing drugs for money.

“Once the car came to rest, you tried to make off. A foot chase took place and you were eventually detained.”