Cocaine dealer stashed drugs at his Wakefield home where his partner and children lived

Baljit Singh was arrested for an unrelated matter when police attended Sowood Avenue in Ossett in October of 2020, but then began to unearth suspicious items.

They first found a mobile phone hidden under a mattress in a bedroom and then more than £4,000 in notes in a drawer in the living room. Eventually, they found almost 65 grammes of cocaine hidden in a shoebox in the under-stairs cupboard, prosecutor Rachel Webster told Leeds Crown Court.

Singh, now of Broadgate, Ossett, gave a no-comment interview after being arrested. He has 32 previous convictions for 53 offences, including possession of cocaine, production of cannabis and dealing in cannabis.

He admitted possession with intent to supply cocaine and possession of criminal property. The court was told that he had committed other, non drug-related offences since the drug bust.

Mitigating, Jessica Strange said that Singh’s life had changed since that time, and was now employed on the railways.

She said: “It’s quite a step forward for a man with his history. He has turned things around. At the age of 42, he has finally left his criminal lifestyle behind. It’s rare to see such progress."

But Judge Mushtaq Khokhar told Singh: “These offences are too serious to be suspended. Even when you were on bail you were committing other offences. At the end of the day, it’s three years’ (jail) and you have previous convictions for similar offences.”

Reducing the sentence to take his guilty pleas into account, he jailed him for 27 months.