Two York drug dealers ended up turning on each other after one accused the other of being a “grass”, culminating in an incident in the street in which they attacked each other with a spade.
Sam Barnes, 35, and Christopher Holmes, 39, who had been dealing large amounts of amphetamine, fell out after they were arrested and brought in for questioning following covert police surveillance of the “established, very-organised” supply racket, York Crown Court heard.
There followed a falling-out between the pair “because one suspected the other of having grassed him up to police”, said prosecutor Austin Newman.
On 20 August, 2020, officers keeping watch on the dealers witnessed a heated argument between the pair outside Holmes’s address in Byland Avenue which culminated in the incident with the spade.
“Barnes…accosted Holmes in the street,” said Mr Newman.
“There was a fight in which Holmes picked up a spade and was disarmed by Barnes who turned the weapon on Holmes.”
It was an ignominious end to a long-running street-dealing operation in which Barnes, Holmes and his friend Amy Laverack, 38, sold high-purity amphetamine to drug users in York.
During the “extensive” enterprise, Barnes stashed amphetamine packages in a hedge near his home which was the go-to location for the dealing operation. However, undercover police were watching his comings and goings and also keeping tabs on his partners-in-crime Laverack and Holmes.
About three weeks after the incident with the spade, officers descended on Laverack’s home, also in Byland Avenue, and found a large amphetamine cache. During their search of the property, they found several tubs and packages containing 239g of mainly high-purity amphetamine worth up to £1,250.
They also found a small amount of MDMA, a Class A, Ecstasy-type drug, as well as digital scales with traces of amphetamine and a cutting agent.
The mother-of-four was arrested and admitted being concerned in the supply of amphetamine and possessing the Class B drug with intent to supply. She also admitted possessing MDMA.
Large police investigation
Holmes admitted being concerned in the supply of amphetamine in conjunction with Barnes, as well as possession with intent to supply the drug. Holmes and Laverack appeared for sentence on Wednesday.
Barnes, of Tostig Avenue, York, will be sentenced in June. As the ringleader of the drug enterprise, he is facing a lengthy prison sentence.
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Mr Newman said the dealers were arrested following a large-scale police investigation into an “established, very organised” supply operation.
Barnes had supplied Holmes and Laverack with “large quantities of amphetamine for onward distribution on the streets of York”.
They were put under close observation by undercover officers who were soon onto Barnes’s hedgerow drug stashes and observed drug exchanges between Barnes and Holmes.
On 30 May, 2020, an officer looked in the hedge and found a bag, inside which was a lump of amphetamine “about the size of a tennis ball” and a “long, sausage-shaped” package containing amphetamine paste.
‘Spread misery’ across York
Holmes, who is a father, had eight previous convictions for offences including acquisitive crime, violence and wildlife offences.
His barrister Andrew Petterson said Holmes had a serious amphetamine habit at the time and had been dealing partly to fund his own addiction.
Richard Holland, for Laverack, said she too was partly funding her own drug habit which she had since beaten.
Judge Timothy Clayson said that by dealing the highly addictive drug, Holmes and Laverack had “spread misery” to users in York.
“This was a serious case of its type because it was going on for quite an extended period,” added Mr Clayson.
He told the defendants: “The scale (of the enterprise) was significant, and you were involved deeply enough in that regular supply.”
However, the judge said he had noted that both Holmes and Laverack had families and there was a good prospect of rehabilitation in both their cases.
Holmes was given a 15-month suspended prison sentence with up to 30 days’ rehabilitation activity.
Laverack received a 10-month suspended jail sentence with a 20-day rehabilitation programme.