Detectives and police staff from Harrogate CID have been presented with a Judge’s Commendation for their work that saw three violent “county lines” drug dealers jailed for over 50 years.
On 19 October 2018, Mohamed Abdi, Adirahman Shire, and Julian Soares, were jailed at Leeds Crown Court for supplying cocaine and causing grievous bodily harm. After passing sentence, His Honour, Mr Justice Martin Spencer QC, commended the investigation team for the comprehensive way in which the case was brought to court.
Detective Sergeant Alan Browne, Detective Constables Victoria Lawson and Sam Harding, and Police Staff Investigator, Frank Penders, were presented with their commendation by Chief Constable Lisa Winward at Harrogate police station on 15 January 2019. Three other members of staff also received a commendation for their work.
Chief Constable Winward said:
I’m extremely proud of the team and the fact that their work has been acknowledged by the court.
I know the investigation was long and complex and the crimes committed by the trio brought fear and concern to the local community.
Their tenacity has taken three dangerous people off the streets for a long time and I hope local people are reassured that those responsible for the violence on that night are now behind bars.
Mohamed Abdi, 26, of Tower Street, Leicester, Adirahman Shire, 22, of Oak Street, Leicester, and Julian Soares, 23, of Brixton, London, were found guilty of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and conspiracy to supply cocaine following a two-week trial at Leeds Crown Court that concluded on 16 October 2018. Abdi pleaded guilty to the conspiracy to supply cocaine charge midway through the trial. Soares was also found guilty of administering a noxious substance and conspiracy to supply heroin.
Soares received sentences totalling 29 years including two concurrent sentences of eight years for conspiracies to supply cocaine and heroin, 12 years for wounding and one year for administering a noxious substance, meaning he will serve 20 years in prison. Shire was jailed for 15 years and Abdi for 14 years and nine months.
The charge of wounding with intent related to an attack at a property on Skipton Road when a 38-year-old man from Leeds was stabbed.
The charge of administering a noxious substance related to an attack on Kings Road when a 37-year-old man from Harrogate had a corrosive liquid thrown in his face.
At around 11.20pm on 20 October 2017, North Yorkshire Police were called to Bilton Working Men’s Club where a man sought refuge after the liquid was sprayed in his face when he was approached by Soares on Kings Road, in the mistaken belief that he was a rival drug dealer.
On arrival at the scene, officers also found a man nearby with stab wounds who was later identified as one of the defendants in the case, Mohamed Abdi, who had suffered a punctured lung during the incident at Skipton Road. He was taken to Leeds General Hospital for treatment to his injuries and told police he couldn’t remember what had happened.
Around ten minutes later, police received another call, this time from nearby Unity Grove, reporting that two men were injured in an alleyway, one of them seriously, and was asking for help.
On arrival, officers found the 38-year-old man from Leeds who had sustained 12 stab wounds to his body resulting in a collapsed lung and a serious laceration to his ankle that required extensive surgery. A second victim, who has subsequently been jailed for five years for drug dealing, Audley Anthony St Patrick Mascoll, 54, from Leeds, was also stabbed during the incident, however the three defendants were found not guilty of wounding Mr Mascoll.
The court heard how the injured man was attacked by Adbi, Shire and Soares at a property on Skipton Road after the three defendants had established themselves as dealers in Harrogate in the weeks prior to the incident, “cuckooing” at various addresses. Believing him to be a rival dealer on their “turf” they attacked him.
