Leeds drug dealers sentenced for supplying heroin and crack cocaine in Scarborough

Under ‘Operation Dissolve’, a complex inquiry run by North Yorkshire Police, the 10 defendants were finally brought to justice following a lengthy investigation which relied on surveillance, telecommunications reports, drug and cash seizures and multiple mobile phone downloads.

The evidence showed the group had established a profitable drugs line in Scarborough that was active on an almost a daily basis and would use black and clear medicine capsules to store heroin and crack cocaine for onward sale.

The group was led by Stephen Frederick Gedge, 33, of Broad Lane, who had set up home in Scarborough.

Runners were coordinated on the ground by his second in command Benjamin Luke Conway, 32, of Ley Lane, Armley.

Runners would be paid for the role they fulfilled within the group.

Over the year-long period of offending, five deal-lines were identified as being in use at one time or another.

A sixth deal-line, which was active in Leeds, was also being used to organise the operation between Scarborough and Leeds.

The group used various locations around Scarborough to set up as ‘deal’ locations, including the ‘white rocks’ at the old Holbeck Hall Hotel site.

In November 2017, undercover police officers captured footage of James Ronald Williams, 32, of Oak Road, Garforth, and Joshua Nathan Richardson, 30, of Foundry Lane, Seacroft, meeting and making exchanges with multiple known Class A drug users on the beach at Scarborough.

It was established they were staying in a caravan at a local site where Gedge had previously resided.

On 16 November 2017, Gedge, Williams and Richardson were arrested with several mobile phones and quantities of cash recovered.

The phones were subsequently found to be those used for the ‘deal-lines’.

Cash seized from Gedge’s home address was found to have the fingerprints of Williams and Richardson on the notes.

A phone seized from Gedge was later found to have evidence of him running the operation and contact with Conway.

Williams was stopped again in December 2017, and officers noted a mobile phone he had with him in the vehicle.

This was later identified as being another phone that was used for one of the deal-line numbers.

In late January 2018, sightings were made of Gedge in company with Williams and Daniel Graham Martin, 27, of no fixed address, at ‘the white rocks’ at a time the ‘deal-line’ had sent out a message notifying drug users the line was active.

Then, in early February 2018, undercover officers captured footage of Martin meeting and making exchanges with multiple known drug users in the vicinity of Oriel Crescent, Scarborough. 

Crack cocaine and heroin was recovered from two individuals seen meeting Martin and their phones showed evidence of them being offered drugs from a deal-line.

Martin was arrested in possession of two mobile phones which, following examination, showed him taking direction from the identified deal-line. While under police observation, Martin was seen coming and going from Gedge’s nearby address.

Williams was once again arrested in Scarborough in March 2018, this time at Oliver’s Mount in company with Daniel Lafferty, 35, of Mistress Lane, Armley.

The vehicle Williams and Lafferty were in was stopped after initially evading the police.

Mobile phones and cash were seized again and the seized phones from both Williams and Lafferty could be shown to be in contact with the deal-line at the time.

In April 2018, sightings were made of Conway and Kelsi Waller, 28, of Clyde Walk, New Wortley, in the vicinity of the ‘white rocks’ meeting with known drug users at times correlating with when a deal-line had sent a broadcast message.

It was established that the men were staying in the same caravan Williams and Richardson had been in back in November 2017.

Conway and Martin Kirby, 25, of Holdforth Gardens, New Wortley, were arrested in Scarborough in May 2018 after been sighted meeting known drug users on the Esplanade, Scarborough and in a local supermarket car park in a VW Transporter van.

Their phones were seized and recovered was a dismantled handset that could be shown to be another phone that had held one of the deal-lines.

Conway’s phone was examined and evidence from it showed he was controlling the numerous deal-lines that had been identified and taking instruction and direction from Gedge.

Kirby’s phone was shown to be in regular contact with the identified deal-lines.

Further sightings in May captured Kirby, Lafferty and Gedge meeting with known drug users near to Cayton Bay and sightings of Gedge with Conway at a local caravan park.

Another member of the group, Adam Strafford, 27, of Ley Lane, Armley, was arrested twice in August 2018.

The first was after making off from officers on Broadway, Scarborough where they recovered a discarded machete that was subsequently linked to him.

A mobile phone and cash were seized from Strafford and his phone showed he was taking direction to supply drugs from the identified deal-line at the time. He had numbers linked to Conway and in one message refers to him as ‘Boss’.

Later in August, footage was obtained that showed Strafford in the South Bay area of Scarborough meeting and making exchanges with multiple known local drug users.

On August 21, he was arrested for a second time in a taxi at Cayton Bay.

Once again, the mobile phone seized was taking direction from the identified deal-line and evidence on the phone linked him to Gedge.

Following Strafford’s arrest, it was identified Conway had set up a tent at another local caravan site. Staff at the site recovered thousands of empty black and clear medicine capsules and digital scales with traces of heroin and cocaine on them from this tent when they thought it had been abandoned. 

On September 2018, Carl Ripley, 28, of Cow Close Road, Farnley, was located within woodland at Oliver’s Mount following a report that several drug users were in the area.

Ripley was in possession of a mobile phone that was receiving calls from the identified deal-line.

He was arrested and a coffee tin full of medicine capsules containing heroin and crack cocaine was recovered hidden under a nearby tree to where he was found.

The following day Ripley and Waller were located on Oliver’s Mount again and a further coffee tin containing multiple medicine capsules filled with heroin and crack cocaine was recovered hidden nearby.

Phone contact again showed they were taking direction from the identified deal-line.

Gedge and Conway were both arrested again in October 2018 with further cash recovered from Gedge’s home address.

All 10 defendants appeared at Bradford Crown Court for a six-week trial beginning on March 4, 2024.

However, they changed their pleas to guilty four days into the trial.

Sentencings

Stephen Frederick Gedge was today (May 2, 2025) sentenced to 12 years nine months imprisonment.

Benjamin Luke Conway was sentenced on November 5 2024 at Leeds Crown Court to seven years’ imprisonment (plus an additional six years for a separate West Yorkshire investigation).

 The remainder of the gang were sentenced on May 17 2024 at Bradford Crown Court.

James Ronald Williams was sentenced to six and a half years’ imprisonment

Joshua Nathan Richardson was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, suspended for two years

Daniel Martin was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment

Carl Ripley was given a three year community order and 200 hours unpaid work

Daniel Lafferty was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, suspended for two years

Kelsi Waller was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, suspended for two years

Adam Strafford was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, suspended for two years

Martin Kirby was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, suspended for two years

Detective Constable Darrel Temple, from Scarborough and Ryedale CID, said: “This has been one of the most complex cases we have dealt with in recent years and the outcome at court shows our sheer tenacity in seeking justice against Gedge, Conway and the rest of the Leeds-based organised crime group.

“Offenders like them bring untold misery to our neighbourhoods and exploit and profit from vulnerable people.

“We will continue to take a firm stance against drug-related crime in the Scarborough area and work with community partners to reduce harms caused by drugs.”