TWO of the gang that attacked a man with a gun in Leeman Road, York, were part of separate drug dealing operations, York Crown Court heard.  

Ben Adam Cairns, 36, was part of another gang that hid drugs on a popular York nature reserve in dog poo bags.

The gunman himself, Benjamin Roach, ran his own cannabis production and supply business, York Crown Court heard.

Michael Cahill, prosecuting, described how undercover police watched Cairns and accomplice John Patrick Brough in the undergrowth near hedges on Hob Moor in west York.

After the pair had gone, police went to the site and found a black plastic bag of the type used for dog poo containing six bags containing 1,270g of amphetamine with a street value of £1,600.

York Press:

The surveillance was part of a months-long operation during which police repeatedly watched Cairns and Brough moving about Acomb, retrieving drugs from Hob Moor, taking them to an accomplice’s house and selling them in drug deals in the area, said Mr Cahill.

Brough was the go-between between Cairns and Thomas Grant Michael Robinson, who lived in the house where they packaged the drugs for onwards sale, said the barrister.

After five months of keeping the trio under surveillance, police swooped in December 2019 and raided Robinson’s house where they found £550 in cash, digital scales and a spoon with traces of drugs on them, dealer bags and drugs. They also rounded up the gang.

Cairns, 36, of Foxwood Lane, Acomb, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply amphetamine.

Hob Moor is very popular with people of all ages for dog walking, cycling and other outdoor activities.

Brough, now 35, of Kingsway West, Acomb, was jailed for 22 months and Robinson, now 34, of Green Lane, Acomb, six months in 2022 for their parts in the operation.

Cairns’ sentence was adjourned until he could be sentenced for the Leeman Road attack. He was jailed for 16 months for conspiracy to supply amphetamine to be served after the four years he was given for the Leeman Road attack.

York Crown Court heard how police found two cannabis plants and other evidence of cannabis growing when they raided a house in Peterhill Drive, Clifton, four months after the Leeman Road incident.

The occupant Michael Lloyd Williams, 44, was given a community order in 2022 for allowing his home to be used for cannabis production.

The plants belonged to Benjamin Roach, who was at the premises when police raided it, said Michael Cahill.

He showed them where he was growing them in a wardrobe. But he also lied to them that he hadn’t got a phone. Police got his phone number, rang it and traced the sound to the phone’s hiding place in the bathroom.

They also found enough equipment to grow three other cannabis plants, a drug debtors list and 761g of skunk cannabis inside a carrier bag and some pregabalin and alprazolam, both Class C drugs. 

Roach’s barrister Victoria Smith-Swain said Roach was selling drugs to fund his own drug habit.

Roach was jailed for 12 months for producing cannabis, possessing cannabis with intent to supply it and possessing two Class C drugs, to be served after his six-year sentence for the Leeman Road attacks and a four-month sentence for attempted theft of a bicycle and stealing a television from an old people's home.