A York drug dealer has been jailed for seven years for supplying heroin and crack cocaine on the city’s streets.
Paul Watson, 46, “peddled misery” on York’s streets, even while out on bail, York Crown Court heard.
Watson, of Chapel Fields, Knapton, appeared for sentence today (19 October) after pleading guilty to two counts of possession with intent to supply Class A drugs.
Prosecutor Jessica Heggie said that Watson was first arrested in Acomb on 3 March after he tried to run away from police who wanted to speak to him about an unrelated matter.
“He was found hiding in a garden in Milner Street,” she added.
Watson was found with two bags of crack cocaine and nine wraps of heroin. Officers found three more wraps of Class A drugs when he was taken into police custody.
They subsequently searched his home where they found a small stash of crack cocaine and a container full of bicarbonate of soda, used as a cutting agent.
Watson was released on bail pending further enquiries but three days later, on 6 March, he was found bang at it again.
On this occasion, he was stopped on Ridgeway in Acomb where officers seized 32 wraps of heroin and crack cocaine from his jacket pocket.
Ms Heggie said that Watson, a former roofer, had a long list of previous offences on his record, predominantly for drug matters, and in 2016 he received a hefty jail sentence for possessing heroin with intent to supply.
Defence barrister Nick Hammond said that Watson had a long-standing heroin addiction and he had dealt partly to feed his own habit.
Judge Simon Hickey told Watson: “Class A drugs cause misery, degradation and death. You know that because you are on the frontline, taking the very stuff that you are peddling.”
Watson was jailed for seven years but the judge said that due to new Government sentencing legislation, he could serve anywhere between 40 per cent and two-thirds of his sentence behind bars before being released on prison licence.