Leeds court round-up: Nine cases heard this week including the gang members who traded illegal firearms

The gang members were handed jail time totalling more than 27 years for their parts in the trading of modified firearms and ammunition.

The four, aged between 21 and 23, were caught out by police after a meeting held at a flat in the city to trade two modified Ekol pistols.

Leeds Crown Court heard that a third, similar gun and ammunition was found weeks earlier by a litter picker near to the address of one of the defendants, prompting a police investigation.

Anthony Deegan

A retired taxi driver looking to supplement his pension has been jailed after police caught him with cocaine worth up to £24,700.

Anthony Deegan, 69, became involved in shipping high-purity drugs from Lancashire to Yorkshire in his VW car, Leeds Crown Court heard.

More drugs were also found at his home in Acorn Way, Thorpe Willoughby, after his vehicle was stopped by officers on the M1 at Leeds.

Louis Speak

A thug who strangled his partner with a mobile phone cable during a terrifying two-hour ordeal has been ordered to prison.

Louis Speak kicked, punched, dragged the woman by her hair and throttled her four times – once to the point that she lost consciousness.

The 25-year-old, of Cardigan Road, Headingley, was jailed for 27 months and made the subject of an indefinite restraining order.

Mark Baber

An ageing Leeds burglar who tried to break into the home of a terminal cancer patient has been locked up and admitted: “I’m too old for this.”

Mark Baber, of Colywn Terrace, Beeston, said that he was “off his tree” on prescription drugs when he tried to burgle the house on Burlington Road in the Hunslet Carr area.

The 59-year-old was jailed by a judge who told him that he had “not expressed a shred of remorse”.

Andrew Culpepper-Smith

A drunken flasher who exposed himself to children outside a Leeds supermarket has been sent to prison.

Andrew Culpepper-Smith was on bail after the first incident when he pulled down his trousers and exposed himself to two women in a car park.

A judge told the 40-year-old, of Strathmore View, Harehills, that he would have to sign the sex offenders register for seven years.

Ryan Wheeler

A judge warned a teenager who filmed a violent street attack on his phone that would have faced being locked up had he been an adult at the time.

Ryan Wheeler, now 18, of Holtdale Avenue, Adel, could be heard on the film encouraging two others to attack a boy in Leeds.

The judge said: “It was a cowardly and unpleasant attack. You filmed part of it and encouraged the others. If you had been an adult then the starting point would have been a custodial sentence.”

Lisa Rachael Hargreaves

A cash-strapped car dealership worker has avoided custody after she admitted defrauding customers out of thousands of pounds.

Sales executive Lisa Rachael Hargreaves was found to have taken £2,377 from nine customers of the dealership in Leeds, with transfers ranging between £80 and £684.

The 47-year-old, of Crowtrees Lane, Brighouse, was said to “bitterly regret” what she had done.

Andrew Bennett

A drugs courier who transported high-purity cocaine worth millions in a secret hydraulic compartment in his car has been jailed.

Police found fingerprints belonging to Andrew Bennett on a carrier bag containing almost 1kg of cocaine when officers searched a Wakefield property.

Now the 38-year-old, from Prestwich, Manchester, has been sentenced to 11 years and four months in jail.

Nathan David Stawman

A man who threatened his mother with a meat cleaver had to be Tasered by police, a court heard.

Prosecutor Carmel Pearson said Nathan David Stawman has a history of causing trouble after drinking and taking drugs.

The court heard the 40-year-old, of Wellstone Avenue, Swinnow, has 22 convictions for 37 offences.