1 week Ago By [email protected] (Mark Naylor)
Eagle-eyed police spotted a drug dealer selling heroin and crack cocaine on the streets in a desperate bid to raise some much-needed cash to pay off his drug debt and fund his own addiction. Dean Boyes had a long history of crime but he was now "much too long in the tooth to be going back and forth between custody" and he was certainly far too old to be a drug addict, Hull Crown Court heard. Boyes, 48, of 22nd Avenue, north Hull, admitted possessing heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply on December 15, 2023.
Stephen Welch, prosecuting, said that police spotted Boyes apparently involved in drug dealing in Ellerburn Avenue, north Hull. Police stopped him as he entered a shop and searched him. He had £189 cash on him as well as 14 wraps of heroin, weighing 1.
46g and valued at £140, and 47 packages of crack cocaine, weighing 6.87g and valued at £860. He later admitted drug dealing and claimed that he did do so because of a drug debt and because of the risk of repercussions to himself and his family if he did not do so.
He was also funding his own drug habit. Boyes had convictions for 59 previous offences since 1995, including 19 theft-related. He was jailed for four years in May 2001 for robbery and was jailed for two years in 2013 for assault causing actual bodily harm and affray.
Michael Forrest, mitigating, said that Boyes was involved in direct street dealing but the value of the drugs seized was low. "There is no evidence to suggest that he had any other wider understanding of the scale of the operation," said Mr Forrest. Get all the latest crime and court news in Hull straight to your mobile via WhatsApp by clicking here .
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Boyes was trying to fund his own drug use. "He accepted that he had made fundamental mistakes in his life and involved himself with others who would exploit him," said Mr Forrest. Boyes had a young family and he was working independently to reduce his methadone use.
He was a qualified forklift driver and he was fed up with being on benefits. "He is much too long in the tooth to be going back and forth between custody and he is far too long in the tooth to be an addict," said Mr Forrest. Recorder Alistair MacDonald KC told Boyes: "You were seen engaging in apparent drug dealing.
These are serious offences of drug offending. You were dealing in drugs for money, partly to finance your own habit." Boyes, who had been on bail, was jailed for two years and three months.
The £189 cash seized will be forfeited..
