Heroin and crack-cocaine dealer arrested in Scarborough is finally jailed - after 'shocking' delay in case reaching court

Yakub Sheikh Mohammed, 26, received a reduced jail term because of a three-year delay in the prosecution case and the fact that he is already serving an eight-year prison sentence for robbery and administering a poisonous or noxious substance while on custodial remand.

Mohammed, who was mired in the UK’s “gang culture”, was arrested in Scarborough in May 2018 after travelling from West Yorkshire to the east coast to sell heroin and crack, York Crown Court heard.

Yet he didn’t receive a summons until March last year despite there being “certain admissions (of guilt)” and clear telephone evidence that he and two of his cohorts had been dealing in the town, said prosecutor Catherine Duffy.

In the meantime, he received three separate prison sentences at the Crown courts in Northampton, Sheffield and Leeds.

The Scarborough case was not listed for a plea hearing until November last year, when Mohammed admitted two counts of possessing a Class A drug with intent to supply.

The cases against his two named co-accused were ultimately dropped as one was unfit to plead due to his mental state and the other was already serving a 17-year prison sentence for separate offences, prompting the Crown Prosecution Service to decide that it was not in the public interest to prosecute in his case.

Mohammed finally appeared for sentence via video link today (March 31) after a yawning chasm in the prosecution case which judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, described as

“shocking”.

Ms Duffy said Mohammed was arrested on May 30, 2018, when police in Scarborough tried to stop a Mercedes Benz which was driven off.

“The vehicle was abandoned in a car park in Eastborough,” she added.

“The two occupants - this defendant and (one of the other named men) - made off.

"(Mohammed) was stopped by officers nearby (and) arrested.”

A search revealed Mohammed had been carrying “numerous” wraps of white powder, namely 36 heroin packages and eight crack-cocaine wraps with an estimated “street value” of £440.

He initially denied the offences, telling police he had been in Scarborough “to pick up (a relative’s) belongings” and at the time of his arrest he was “intoxicated and high on weed”.

But he later admitted he had travelled to the town “to pick up crack”.

“He said he had been told to get the drugs and bring them back (to West Yorkshire),” said Ms Duffy.

Mohammed, of no fixed address, had a “bad” record for offences including violence and robbery.

In 2016, he was jailed for 40 months at Ipswich Crown Court for possession with intent to supply cocaine and heroin.

He was on prison licence for those offences when he was caught dealing in Scarborough.

In October 2020, after being arrested for the Scarborough drug offences, he was jailed for 33 months at Northampton Crown Court for violent disorder and possessing a knife.

In July last year, he received two consecutive prison sentences at the Crown Courts in Sheffield and Leeds, totalling eight years and four months for robbery and administering a noxious substance while on prison remand.

Graham Parkin, mitigating, said Mohammed had refused to answer questions about being “subject to coercion and in fear (of other men involved in the supply network)”.

He said Mohammed had grown up in London where he was “very quickly introduced to the gang culture prevalent on his estate”.

Mohammed was “still at risk” from people who wanted to harm him, which was why he had been transferred from prisons in the Midlands and the south to a jail in northern England.

“He has no contacts in Yorkshire, but he’s been moved for his own safety,” added Mr Parkin.

He said Mohammed was “effectively in solitary confinement” where he was still at risk.

Judge Mr Morris said Mohammed had played a “significant” role in the drug-supply enterprise in Scarborough.

He added, however, that the three-year delay between his arrest and summons was “inordinate”.

If Mohammed had taken the case to trial and been found guilty, he could have received up to six years in prison, or four years following a guilty plea if the case had been concluded without delay.

But the judge said he had to “bring that down substantially…because of the shocking delay in prosecuting this matter and bringing it to court”.

He said that because of this, as well as the fact that Mohammed was already serving a long prison sentence in isolated conditions, the appropriate jail term would be 18 months.

In effect, Mohammed will only serve half of that behind bars, albeit consecutive to the eight-year sentence he is already serving.