A man has been jailed after a judge said he was satisfied he was going to sell drugs during a family break to Scarborough.

Aneel Akhtar was stopped in his mother’s Motability Mercedes with his wife and children in the car on December 31, 2013 on the A64 at Tadcaster with £550 cash on him.

Crack cocaine heroin were found hidden in his wife’s bra which Akhtar accepted he had given to her.

Akhtar told Leeds Crown Court the money was to spend on the family break and said the drugs were for his own use but accepted he would have shared a smoke with a friend who was already at the resort.

He denied he would have sold any.

Graham O’Sullivan prosecuting told the court at that time in December Akhtar was on bail after police followed him home on June 28, 2013 because they were suspicious about cash in his vehicle.

A man had been seen to approach his car in Lockwood and as police approached the vehicle they noticed a large quantity of banknotes.

When they asked “what’s all this” he said it was only a couple of hundred pounds before driving away.

Crack cocaine and heroin were found in Akhtar's wife's bra
Crack cocaine and heroin were found in Akhtar's wife's bra

They followed him to his address and £350 was found on him while £1,380 was found in a wardrobe. When examined the money was found to have higher than average readings for heroin on it. He claimed the money had come from a payout for a whiplash claim.

He was bailed and on November 19 that year he was again found in possession of £1,525 in cash which again showed higher readings for heroin.

Akhtar was once again bailed and was then stopped on December 31. He told the court during a hearing to decide a disputed basis of plea that the family were going to Scarborough for a break celebrating New Year’s Eve and having a break from looking after his mother who suffered from Parkinson’s disease.

Scarborough
Scarborough

He claimed all the money found came from the whiplash compensation and family benefit payments taken out of a Post Office account.

The court was told Akhtar was jailed for 33 months in 2011 for possession with intent to supply heroin and crack cocaine. He told the court his life was a mess at that time when he was using heroin and mixing with the wrong company.

Kate Bissett representing him submitted the drugs in 2013 were only to share with a friend on a specific occasion at New Year and not for street supplying. She said he was now clean from the drug.

Akhtar, 45, of Fenton Road, Lockwood, admitted three charges of possessing or acquiring criminal property and two of possessing Class A drugs with intent to supply.

Jailing him for a total of five years eight months Judge Geoffrey Marson QC said he was satisfied while in Scarborough Akhtar would have tried to sell the drugs.

“The drugs were concealed upon your wife, no doubt because you feared you were the one likely to be searched because of your previous convictions. I am prepared to accept this was a holiday for your family but also find that you were prepared to sell some of these drugs for criminal purposes on the streets of Scarborough.”