Prolific Scarborough and Bridlington drug dealer jailed for more than eight years

Deiniol Thorpe, 27, continued to peddle his illicit wares, including crack cocaine, even after receiving a postal requisition to attend court for a preliminary hearing following his first arrest.

Thorpe – lately of Bridlington but who was living in Scarborough at the time – sent out “broadcast” messages to hundreds of customers, including one in which he bragged about having “the best dub in town, hands down”.

He finally received his comeuppance when he appeared at York Crown Court on Tuesday April 5 to be sentenced for six offences including possessing cannabis with intent to supply, producing or cultivating cannabis, possessing criminal cash, possessing cocaine with intent to supply and two counts of offering to supply MDMA, a Class A Ecstasy-type drug.

The offences occurred between November 2019 and September 2021.

Two other matters - obstructing a police constable in the execution of his duty and damaging a police cell in September last year – were remitted to the magistrates’ court after he denied the allegation.

Thorpe was caught with the first drugs stash in November 2019, when police searched his then home in Osgodby Lane, Osgodby.

They found cannabis plants, growing equipment and two mobile phones inside his bedroom.

The estimated harvest was worth up to £1,665.

Officers also found dealer wraps of cannabis worth up to £775 and two safes.

In one, they found £6,915 cash.

Following his arrest, Thorpe was escorted to the police vehicle but, once outside, he pulled away from officers and tried to run off.

He was quickly apprehended following a short chase.

He was released under investigation but months later, police seized a mobile phone from a “known drug user” and found messages on it which led them back to Thorpe’s door.

They discovered that the “broadcast” or block messages - sent to hundreds of customers at once - had been sent by Thorpe who had been advertising his illicit wares again while on court bail.

One message read: “Best dub in town, hands down. Ten out of 10.”

As well as taxi numbers dialled from the phone, police found a call to York Crown Court regarding his court case and another to his solicitors in August 2021 – after he had been charged with the cannabis offences and just before his preliminary hearing for those matters.

Mrs Landing said that on one day alone, July 23 last year, a broadcast message sent by Thorpe reached 182 prospective crack-cocaine customers.

He advertised to “similarly large audiences” throughout August and September.

On September 18, police went back to his home and seized £255 cash and two more mobile phones.

The following day, they found an adapted Red Bull can containing 20g of crack and cocaine.

“Officers downloaded the contact list on (one of the phones) and the list included many new drug users,” said Mrs Landing.

Each customer name was prefixed with either ‘SC’ or BR’, revealing that Thorpe had been supplying cocaine to users in both Scarborough and Bridlington.

Police made enquiries with Inland Revenue about the money found in Thorpe’s safe and found he had declared an income from 2020 of just £556.

“His bank accounts showed he had low balances – far less than he had at his address at the time of his arrest,” said Mrs Landing.

Following ‘no-comment’ police interviews, Thorpe ultimately admitted all six charges, spanning nearly two years.

Thorpe, of Windsor Crescent, Bridlington, appeared in court via video link on Tuesday when the prosecution outlined his chequered past which included 25 previous convictions for 35 offences. They included Mephedrone and cannabis possession.

Allan Armbrister, mitigating, said Thorpe had suffered mental-health problems over the years, no doubt exacerbated by hard drug use which led to dealing, partly - but far from exclusively - to fund his own habit.

Judge Simon Hickey told Thorpe he had “spread misery” in Scarborough and Bridlington.

He said he knew “the insidious effect” that hard drugs were having on “two towns here on the east coast, where people’s lives have been made a misery down to Class A drug supply”.

Thorpe was jailed for eight years and four months.

He will serve half of that sentence behind bars before being released on prison licence.

The judge also set a timetable for financial confiscation proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

The confiscation hearing is due to be heard in August.

Det Con Darrel Temple, of Scarborough CID, said after the hearing: “Thorpe has been a prolific local drug dealer and it’s very pleasing to see him being handed a significant custodial

sentence.

“His involvement in supply Class A drugs such as MDMA, cocaine and crack cocaine meant he was putting many vulnerable and addicted people at great risk of serious ill health and even death.

“The fact that he continued to offend even after he was initially charged to court shows his sheer disdain of the law and the local community.”