Dealer caught with deadly drugs at Leeds family home freed after judge called it an 'isolated lapse'
A drug dealer and father of nine who was found with hundreds of pounds of deadly drugs at his family home has been freed after a judge passed it off as just a “foolish enterprise”.
Armed police were called to the address in Cross Green with a search warrant, but Ricardo James attempted to escape when he saw them.
The 43-year-old was given a suspended sentence at Leeds Crown Court, despite officers uncovering a stash of heroin and crack cocaine at and near the property.
Having been held on remand, it meant James would be freed from prison.
The court heard armed officers went to the address on Cavalier Close on November 13 last year, where James lives with his partner and children.
On arrival, they spotted someone leaving the address. A police dog was deployed and found James hidden behind a fence near the property.
They walked the path from his home to where he was located, and found a black bum bag containing wraps of drugs.
They also found more individually-wrapped drugs, which turned out to be heroin and cocaine, in a green bin in the property’s garden. The total weight of the drugs came to nearly 50 grammes.
Appearing in court via video link from HMP Leeds, James had pleaded guilty at the first chance to two counts of dealing in Class A drugs.
He has eight previous convictions for 13 offences, but none for drug dealing.
Mitigating, Celine Kart said James had been offered the chance to “make easy money”, which he stupidly accepted. She said he was remorseful and that he was now drug-free himself, having been a heavy cannabis user.
She said he had a traumatic upbringing in Jamaica and had nine children aged between five and 24.
Judge Tahir Khan KC told him: “It’s clear the drugs were packaged for supply but I’m satisfied this was not a large-scale drug-dealing operation.
“This was, on your part, an isolated lapse, brought about by various pressures to get involved in dealing and to some extent getting involved through naivety.
“It was a foolish enterprise you engaged in.”
He gave him a 24-month jail sentence, suspended for 24 months, a three-month drug rehabilitation requirement, 20 rehabilitation days and 250 hours of unpaid work.