Two street drug dealers have been jailed after they were stopped in a van late at night in Bradford with cocaine they were trafficking.
Kirsch Farrell, who owned the vehicle and was driving it, was locked up for 20 months at Bradford Crown Court yesterday. Co-accused Michael Daglan was imprisoned for ten months.
Locking them up, the judge, Recorder Anthony Kelbrick, warned: “People who deal in Class A drugs must go to custody.”
The men pleaded guilty on the day the case was listed for trial. Both admitted possession of cocaine with intent to supply it on March 12, 2020. Daglan also pleaded guilty to simple possession of cannabis.
The court heard that Farrell’s Ford Transit van was stopped at 11.30pm in the Buttershaw area. Two police constables on patrol in a marked police vehicle pulled the Transit over after spotting it turning into Halifax Road.
Farrell, 27, of Calderstone Avenue, Buttershaw, Bradford, had some awareness of the scale of the drugs operation, Recorder Kelbrick said.
Daglan, 27, of Willow Grove, Hull, pleaded guilty on the basis that he was the custodian of wraps of cocaine found in his underwear.
Saf Salam, Farrell’s solicitor advocate, said he had no previous convictions for drugs offences and had stayed out of trouble in the more than two years since committing the offence.
He was under pressure to perform a limited function under direction while addicted to cocaine.
He had run up a debt, they weren’t his drugs and he had no expectation of any financial gain.
He had full-time employment as a driver/labourer for a building company after becoming drug free and turning his life around.
Anastasis Tasou said in mitigation for Daglan that he moved away from the area to get away from his earlier associates but committed the offences after returning to Bradford, before leaving again.
His partner was in court to support him and Mr Tasou urged the court to suspend the sentence of imprisonment.
Daglan had no previous convictions and he too had stayed out of trouble in the more than two years since the offences were committed.
Recorder Kelbrick said much of the delay in getting the case dealt with was down to the fact that the men had denied the offences and the case was listed for trial.
Although barristers for both defendants had submitted that there were exceptional circumstances that meant they shouldn’t go to prison immediately, he could see none.
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