Jail term for Scarborough drug dealer
A man who operated three “dealer lines” in Scarborough to supply a Class A drug (cocaine) has been jailed for four years.
Joshua Kilpatrick, 32, was arrested at his home in Scarborough on October 7 when police found 38g of cocaine, York Crown Court heard.
A “complex” police investigation into his activities in the preceding six months showed he had been advertising drugs for sale on three telephone lines linked to his email address, said prosecutor Michael Cahill.
Kilpatrick was caught after police apprehended known drug users in the town and found them with cocaine. The trail of electronic evidence, namely the phone lines and messages sent to them, led police to Kilpatrick’s door.
They went to his house on Pavilion Square and found 38g of cocaine at the property.
Kilpatrick, originally from Whitby, appeared at the Crown Court when he admitted both charges.
The Crown moved straight to sentence.
Mr Cahill said Kilpatrick had been “trusted (by others in the drug chain) to operate
the dealer lines in which he is sending out the (messages)”.
Kilpatrick had 13 previous convictions for 26 offences including robbery, for which he received a six-year jail sentence in September 2019.
He was released from jail earlier this year, halfway through his sentence, shortly before embarking on his drug enterprise while still on prison licence. He was recalled to prison following his arrest for the drug offences.
His solicitor advocate David Camidge said Kilpatrick had no previous drug offences on his record but had “got himself involved in something in Scarborough”.
Recorder Tom Little KC
said it was clear that Kilpatrick had been “regularly supplying”ClassAdrugusersover a period of about six months. Mr Little said the fact that Kilpatrick was caught with 38g of cocaine on one occasion alone was an indication of the sheer scaleofthedealingenterprise.
He told Kilpatrick: “The supply of Class A drugs, and in particular cocaine, leads to a whole raft of criminal offences which result from it across the county and this country, which is why this is such a serious offence.”
Kilpatrick was handed a four-year jail sentence, of which he will serve half behind bars before being released on prison licence.