'Serious' Leeds drug criminal returned to prison for having 'ghost phone'
He could face the next six years behind bars
A drug dealer who was described as a “serious criminal” has been jailed again after he was caught with a phone.
Leeham Stewart was subject to a serious criminal prevention order (SCPO) on release from prison after a lengthy sentence, designed to restrict his liberty.
This included him possessing only one phone, but he was caught in a car that tried to get away from police in August while holding a second phone.
The 39-year-old was jailed again at Leeds Crown Court today, but the court was told it may be “academic” because he is facing a full recall until 2032.
Stewart was jailed in 2022 for 12 years for conspiring to supply heroin and cocaine.
He was released in February of this year, and the SCPO put in place. He then registered a white iPhone with one SIM card, under the strict terms of the five-year order.
On August 6 in Morley, the police tried to stop a car which then tried and failed to get away.
Stewart was the passenger and he had a blue iPhone on him after police had to force their way into the vehicle. His white iPhone was found in a kitchen drawer during a search of his address.
During his police interview he gave a prepared statement claiming the blue phone was not his.
He later admitted breaching the SCPO.
Stewart, of Gelderd Road, Gildersome, has 12 previous convictions for 27 offences, He was even caught with a phone in prison, for which he received a six-month suspended sentence.
Mitigating, Daisy Wrigley said there was no evidence he had used the blue phone from criminal purposes, but Judge Andrew Stubbs KC said there was an “irresistible inference” that it was.
He questioned why he was in a car that was trying to escape police and in possession of a “ghost phone”.
Judge Stubbs labelled him a “serious criminal” and gave him a new eight-month sentence, as well as activating five months of his suspended sentence, making a total of 13 months.
However, it is unclear if Stewart will be forced to serve the remainder of his 12-year sentence imposed in 2022.
The father-of-five had been caught trading high-purity Class A drugs wholesale in 2019.
At least 10 kgs were bought and sold with Stewart being named as the drug gang’s leader.
He has a long list of convictions dating back to when he was a juvenile. He has been caught dealing in drugs three times in total, and has been jailed for robbery.