'Ring and bring' Leeds cocaine dealer spared custody due to court delay

James Maltas was driving a Mercedes along Belle Isle Road when police pulled him over in the early hours of January 20, 2021. He also had a passenger in the front seat.

The officers found £500 worth of cocaine under the seat, along with scales, dealer bags and £60 cash. They searched Maltas’ home where they found 250 grammes of benzocaine – often used as a cutting agent for cocaine. They also found an iPhone that contained messages related to dealing, with prosecutor Benjamin Bell telling Leeds Crown Court that the pair were a “ring and bring” dealer service.

Following his arrest, Maltas, 36, gave a no-comment interview to police. He has nine previous convictions for 20 offences, including being concerned in the supply of class A drugs from 2010. For his latest offending, he admitted offering to supply cocaine and dealing cocaine.

A probation report suggested he had amassed a dent from his own drug use and had been threatened into dealing.

Mitigating, Ian Hudson said Maltas, of Pendas Way, Manston, had worked as a tyre fitter but had lost his job due to ill health. He added: “He started using drugs and ran up a debt. He tried to pay it off by selling drugs for a short period of time. He has now overcome his drugs problem himself.”

He said that he was now back in work part-time but was hoping to get back full-time.

Mr Hudson asked for parity with Maltas’ co-accused, who had previously received a two-year sentence, suspended for two years, with 200 hours of unpaid work.

Judge Neil Clark said: “It’s been three years and you have stayed out of trouble since then and it seems to me you have turned your life around.”

He acknowledged that Maltas had indicated guilty pleas back in 2021, so the delay in bringing the case to court was not of his making. He gave him two years’ jail, suspended for two years, 240 hours of unpaid work and 10 rehabilitation days.