A Huddersfield lawyer jailed for supplying cocaine can no longer work as a barrister again.

Omar Khan, 32, was ordered to be disbarred by an independent disciplinary tribunal following his conviction for conspiring to supply a controlled drug of Class A (cocaine). He is serving more than three years in jail.

The Bar Standards Board brought three charges against him for engaging in conduct which is likely to diminish the trust and confidence the public places in him or the profession.

A BSB spokesperson said: “A conviction for conspiring to supply a Class A substance and subsequent prison sentence is incompatible with membership of the Bar. The tribunal’s decision to disbar Mr Khan reflects this.”

Khan, of William Street, Crosland Moor, had been working at a legal firm in Nottingham for five years before he was arrested but had been due to become a barrister in Huddersfield soon and had even set up his own office here.

He was jailed at Nottingham Crown Court for 40 months last April alongside three other men, Erlin Manahasa, Albert Dibra and Nazaquat Ali who all admitted the same charge relating to offences committed between October 1 and December 4 last year.

Class A drugs (file pic)
Class A drugs (file pic)

The court previously heard the case involved the recovery of 1kg (2.2lb) of cocaine.

Manahasa, 28, of no fixed address, was jailed for four-and- a-half years; Dibra, of Joyce Avenue, Nottingham, for seven-and-a-half years, while Ali, of Chard Street, Nottingham, was sentenced to five years in prison.

The court was told they were involved in a significant conspiracy to supply the drug in the Nottingham area.

Dibra was operating a phone line contacted by undercover police. He contacted his friend, Khan, who met the officers with cocaine.

Sentencing the defendants, Judge Michael Stokes QC said: “It is clear, on the evidence, that on at least two occasions significant quantities of that drug with a high content uncut were delivered, seemingly from the south of England into Nottingham.

“The police observed and waited until the second delivery to restock arrived and then they swooped and found 1.3 kilos of cocaine of an 88% purity.”

He told Khan, who has lost his job and career as a result of the charge, his case was a tragedy.

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Adrian Langdale, mitigating for Khan, said his client had taken cocaine recreationally and got into debt. He was involved in one or two deals and they were isolated incidents.

Khan qualified as a barrister in November but continued as a solicitor in the magistrates’ courts.