JAILED THIS WEEK: Here's who has been locked up in Bradford

THREE men were jailed for their roles in a major organised crime ring operating in the Bradford area.

Father of three Yaser Nazir was imprisoned for five years and three months after the police seized £1.214 million of cocaine and heroin when they busted the operation.

Nazir, 38, of Lindley Road, Little Horton, Bradford, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine.

Prosecutor Alasdair Campbell said he was involved with the gang on March 5 and 19 this year.

On the second occasion, Nazir was transporting kilo blocks of high purity cocaine to buyers for sale on the streets of West Yorkshire.

His blue Skoda Octavia was stopped by an armed response unit and a kilo block of cocaine worth £40,000 was seized from the vehicle.

Nazir, of previous good character, made no comment in his police interview.

His barrister, M A Qazi, said he was recruited by the gang following the arrest of Rizwan Shah, a courier and warehouseman for the organisation.

Mr Qazi said Nazir was “a clean skin” who would not arouse the least suspicion because he had no criminal record.

He was “ideal fodder” for the gang and worked under the direction of those higher above him.

Nazir was “at a low ebb” at the time. He had recently been diagnosed with diabetes and he was having financial problems.

He had done voluntary work with young people and the homeless and contributed to the development of a local football club.

A sheaf of character references had been sent into the court, Mr Qazi said.

The Recorder of Bradford, Judge Richard Mansell QC, conceded that it was “a devastating fall from grace.”

Nazir had worked for the gang for a fortnight in March after Shah was arrested.

He had taken part in a possible “dry run” for the group on March 5 and was snared by the police surveillance operation while he was transporting the high purity cocaine on the 19th.

Judge Mansell said that Nazir was “a glorified courier and warehouseman” who did not play a leading role in the organisation.

TWO days later, Mohammed Haleem was jailed for three years and four months for his role in the operation.

Haleem, 39, of Reginald Street, Little Horton, Bradford, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine.

Prosecutor Alasdair Campbell said he was recruited by his cousin Nazir to store the drugs and was involved in the handover of two kilos of cocaine on March 19.

Haleem and Nazir were in a blue Skoda Octavia that was stopped by an armed response unit. A kilo block of cocaine worth £40,000 was seized from the vehicle and a search of Haleem’s home led to the seizure of two one-kilo blocks of high purity cocaine valued at £80,000.

Mr Campbell said that in all the police recovered five kilos of cocaine on March 19 following a major surveillance operation.

The court heard that Haleem provided a safe-house for the drugs while Nazir stored the money.

Haleem’s barrister, Jeremy Hill-Baker, said he fell into temptation after losing his job at the Post Office. He was short of money and recruited by Nazir for financial gain.

Mr Hill-Baker said Haleem had glowing character references from family members and community workers. This would be his first prison sentence and he had tested positive for the coronavirus while in prison on remand.

The Recorder of Bradford, Judge Richard Mansell QC, said Haleem was recruited by Nazir for financial reward. Haleem offered to help him by storing the drugs at his home and accompanying him to hand over cocaine on one occasion.

Like Nazir, Haleem was “a glorified courier and warehouseman.” But he was below his cousin in the organisation’s pecking order. It was Haleem who took the risk of storing the drugs and who had the cocaine in his jacket when the police swooped.

ON Friday, failed businessman Richard Beech was jailed for five years for laundering £5 million of drugs money for the organisation.

He made frequent trips between his home in Manchester and West Yorkshire to collect and deliver large amounts of cash concealed in hidden compartments under the seats of his specially modified Range Rover.

Beech was labelled the “cash converter and banker” for the crime ring led by Rashid Ashraf (also known as Mohammed Rashid) who was jailed for 18 years earlier this month for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs, possession of criminal property and conspiracy to possess prohibited weapons and ammunition.

Beech, 46, of Urmston Lane, Stretford, Manchester, was the sixth and final defendant to be sentenced for his role in the operation. He pleaded guilty to possession of criminal property and transferring criminal property.

Prosecutor Alasdair Campbell said he played “a crucial role” in the organisation.

He was observed in Bradford on many occasions in his Range Rover collecting bags containing bundles of banknotes. A ledger seized by the police from his home showed the full extent of his money laundering activity.

Beech was arrested on April 29 heading back to Manchester from Bradford along the M62 at 3.30pm. Bags of money were hidden in the compartments of the Range Rover and he was in possession of three phones, one of them encrypted.

The police seized the ledger, a heat-sealing machine and more cash from his home, making a total haul of £195,770 on that day.

Beech’s barrister, Rodney Ferm, conceded the operation was well planned but its concept was simple.

Beech was provided with the modified Range Rover to transport the cash, and the equipment at his home.

“This was not his cash. He was at all times an employee of those above him,” Mr Ferm said.

Beech fell into criminality after his business failed badly and he was approached by the gang.

The Recorder of Bradford, Judge Richard Mansell QC, said Beech’s role was to collect and deliver large quantities of cash totalling £5 million between Manchester and Bradford.

“This was sophisticated and sustained money laundering,” Judge Mansell said. “You were the cash converter and banker.”

A CONVICTED paedophile was jailed for two years and eight months after asking an undercover police officer if he could perform depraved sex acts on two young girls.

Simon Martin, 50, was snared in an internet sting in which the officer pretended to be the mother of children aged 12 and eight.

Martin exchanged messages with her in an internet chatroom in which he called himself “genuine UK perv” and said “no age limit whatsoever.”

Martin, now in Leeds Prison but formerly of Brookfoot Lane, Brighouse, was in breach of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order made at Bolton Crown Court in January, 2013, for attempting to arrange the commission of a child sexual offence.

He also had a previous conviction for making indecent images of children.

Prosecutor David McGonigal said the latest offences took place in June and July this year when Martin began exchanging private messages with “Abby,” a fictitious mother who pretended to have daughters aged eight and 12.

The undercover officer posing as Abby discussed meeting at hotel with Martin so that he could sexually abuse her daughters.

He told her his wife didn’t know what his interest was and that he had had sex with a girl aged 14.

He asked for photos of the 12-year-old, offered to buy her lingerie and sent a picture of his penis for her to look at.

The last contact between Martin and the police officer was on July 6, Mr McGonigal said.

He was arrested ten days later and police seized his computer equipment. On it were 1,092 indecent images of children at Category A, 1,335 at Category B and 1,466 at Category C.

Martin had a special browser to allow him to remain anonymous online and to access the dark web.

He pleaded guilty to two offences of attempting to arrange to meet a child for sexual activity; two breaches of the Sexual Harm Prevention Order; and three offences of possession of indecent images of children.

Martin’s barrister, Andrew Petterson, said the mother and girls were fictitious so there was no harm, or risk of harm, to any child.

He desisted from the behaviour before the police came to arrest him.

Martin had been in custody since July during the Covid-19 prison lockdown.

Judge Colin Burn said previous court orders had “failed to put a lid” on Martin’s child sex offending.

But it was “a matter of significant concern” that the police had not arrested Martin sooner.

His offending was allowed to continue for a couple of weeks with the knowledge, instigation and encouragement of the police officer.

A MAN was jailed for seven years after being convicted of multiple counts of the indecent assault of children.

James Calder, 67, of Fall Brow Close, Clayton, Bradford, was found guilty by a jury after a six-day trial.

The offences dated back to the 1980s and 1990s against four female victims aged between five and 15-years-old. Police began an investigation after one of them came forward and reported the abuse in August 2016. Calder was charged with eight counts of indecent assault.

Detective Constable Charlotte Grose, of Bradford Safeguarding Unit, said: “Following a trial at court, we are pleased that Calder was found guilty and sentenced to a lengthy stint in prison for his crimes.

“All four of his victims bravely gave evidence in court and I would like to thank them for their patience throughout the court process and commend their courage for not only coming forward and reporting the abuse they suffered, but also for standing up in court to give their evidence.”

A BURGLAR suffered life-threatening injuries when he grabbed the blade of an ornamental Samurai sword the householder was defending herself with.

Rehan Malik was one of three masked intruders who smashed their way into the property in Avondale Road, Shipley, Bradford, in the early hours of October 25.

Malik, 23, of Wensleydale Road, Thornbury, Bradford, was trying to make off with an Audi S3 but it got stuck in the garage doors.

As he and his two accomplices tried to free the vehicle, he grabbed at the sword the woman was pointing at him to defend herself.

Her partner had picked up the decorative weapon after they were woken when the burglars broke into the kitchen at 5.30am by smashing a UPVC window. He was confronted by a masked man in the kitchen who demanded the car keys.

The householder went upstairs to call the police and grabbed the sword. He stood on the landing with the sheathed weapon to defend himself, prosecutor Clare Walsh said.

When the intruders found the car keys they started the Audi and tried to steal it.

It was then that the woman unsheathed the sword to defend herself and went out to the garage. She pointed it at Malik, who was trying to get away in the Audi, to keep him there until the police arrived.

He grabbed at the blade, cutting both his hands and leaving blood in the car and around the garage.

He and the other two burglars were then driven from the scene in a getaway vehicle.

The police checked up on hospitals in the region and discovered that Malik had sought medical help in Barnsley.

He spent five days in hospital and would have died from blood loss if he had delayed seeking help any longer, the court was told.

He needed blood transfusions and had lost all feeling in both his hands because the nerves were severed, his barrister Shufqat Khan said.

Malik was unable to get the treatment he needed while on remand in prison and might be left permanently disabled.

His cellmate was effectively his carer because he was unable to dress himself or open a can or bottle.

Mr Khan said the life-threatening and life-changing injury had led Malik to decide to change his ways. He had resolved not to commit any more offences.

He was also sentenced for dangerous driving, driving while disqualified and without insurance. Those offences predated the burglary and were committed while he was on licence.

Mrs Walsh said Malik was pursued by the police at 9.30am on April 12 at speeds at up to 90mph from Parry Lane to Feather Road in Bradford.

He jumped a red light and mounted the kerb in a Seat car, only stopping when he drove down a dead end.

Malik pleaded guilty to all the offences. He was a third strike housebreaker with previous convictions for house burglary, dangerous driving and theft of vehicles.

Judge Jonathan Rose jailed him for 12 months for dangerous driving and 32 months for the burglary, to run consecutively, making three years and eight months in all.

He was banned from driving for 58 months.

The judge stressed that Malik injured himself by grabbing the blade of the sword. The woman was terrified that he would seize the weapon from her and use it against her. She was totally blameless.

A TEENAGER was locked up for seven years for an armed robbery at a Bradford bookmaker and an aggravated burglary at a couple’s home in the city.

Kyle Medas, 18, of Percival Street, East Bowling, Bradford, committed the robbery at Ladbrokes on Otley Road at around 7.30pm on July 22.

Medas was one of two males who entered the shop wearing dark clothing, hooded tops and balaclavas. He was not armed but his accomplice had a large sword or machete with him.

They both shouted to the staff to fill bags with money and ran from the shop with about £1,000 in cash.

Sentencing Medas, the Recorder of Bradford, Judge Richard Mansell QC, said: “It was your misfortune that two police officers were patrolling the area and had seen you approaching the shop, wearing your disguises and carrying the machete.”

One of them said he was shocked that the offence was being committed in such a brazen manner at 7:30 on a summer’s evening when it was still light.”

The officers called for back-up but when they saw the robbers running off, they gave chase. Medas was apprehended but his accomplice got away.

Medas was also sentenced for a serious aggravated burglary at a house in Bradford on November 26 last year.

Judge Mansell said it was clearly a pre-meditated offence and involved two accomplices who drove Medas to the scene and waited for him in a car.

He was wearing dark clothing, a balaclava and gloves, when he approached the couples’ home.

Medas tried to burn the lock out of the front door with a gas blow torch and when that failed, he burned through the security lock on a window, climbed into the house and crept about searching for valuables to steal.

The male householder heard noises and was confronted on the landing by Medas, wearing a balaclava and holding a knife.

Judge Mansell said: “Although you did not threaten him with it, you had it in your hand so that he could see it and, terrified, he screamed out and shut and locked the door behind him. His wife woke and was equally terrified by this ordeal.”

Medas fled empty-handed but he had left the cigarette lighter used to light the blow torch on the windowsill and a DNA match was obtained.

He also left a muddy footprint in the living room which matched the tread pattern on his training shoes.

Judge Mansell took into account mitigation from Shufqat Khan, Medas’s barrister.

Medas had been bullied and may have ADHD and possible long-term effects from a head injury he sustained as a child.

“I accept that you were vulnerable to exploitation by those more criminally experienced than you but this only goes so far to explain and mitigate your offending, since you have had plenty of intervention from the Youth Offending Team and have increasingly made choices to associate with other criminals and commit crime together,” Judge Mansell said.

Medas had already made 18 separate appearances in the juvenile court and had convictions for over 30 offences including house burglary, robbery and attempted robbery, shop theft and vehicle crime.

He was sent to a young offender institution for four years for the aggravated burglary, two and a half years for the robbery, and six months for possession of the machete as a bladed article. All the sentences were consecutive, making seven years in all.

A MAN was jailed for more than ten years for a “brutal and savage” assault on a resident in a house for the homeless in Bradford.

David Stewart, 33, assaulted Neil Hartley over a period of up to two hours in three rooms at the property in Hopbine Avenue, West Bowling, Bradford, in the early hours of April 12.

He pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent and was imprisoned for ten years and 11 months with a three-year period of extended licence.

Stewart and his co-accused, Jason Cowgill, were both originally charged with attempted murder after Mr Hartley sustained a traumatic brain injury, facial fractures, a stab wound to his arm and bleach burns.

Cowgill, 39, of Hopkinson Drive, Bierley, Bradford, was jailed for two years after admitting an offence of assisting an offender. He cleaned up bloodstains with bleach and water at the house after the attack but took no part in the violence.

The court heard that Stewart had been living at the housing trust accommodation in Hopbine Avenue for five months at the time of the attack.

He rang a key worker at the property at 4.25am to say men had come into the house and he feared for his life.

She raised the alarm and the police and paramedics were quickly on the scene.

Mr Hartley, who the court heard was a vulnerable drug addict, was lying in the kitchen in the recovery position under a blood-soaked duvet. The house smelled strongly of bleach and the floor was covered in water.

He was taken to Leeds General Infirmary and admitted to the intensive care unit.

He was on a ventilator after suffering a very severe brain injury.

The court heard that he had since made a “remarkable recovery” but the injuries would have an impact on him for the rest of his life.

He was also left scarred by the bleach burns.

Stewart had previous convictions for wounding, battery, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and assault on an emergency worker. Cowgill had recently served a jail sentence for Section 20 wounding.

Stephen Wood QC, Stewart’s barrister, conceded that it was a sustained and repeated assault. But Stewart did place Mr Hartley in the recovery position and alert the key worker who called for help.

“The enormity of what he had done hit home,” Mr Wood said.

Tahir Khan QC, for Cowgill, said the clean-up operation did not hamper the police investigation.

Judge Jonathan Rose told Stewart: “It was a brutal and savage protracted assault in which weapons were used.”

Mr Hartley had been kicked with a shod foot and struck with a linear-shaped implement.

It was “an unwarranted, grave, sustained, repeated assault” while Stewart was under the influence of substances.

Cowgill took no part in the assault. He made substantial efforts to clean up blood-staining but his efforts achieved nothing whatsoever. It was inevitable that Stewart would be detected and arrested.

A DESPERATE drug addict was jailed for three years for a robbery at Betfred in Keighley town centre.

James Molloy and an accomplice carrying a large knife snatched £160 from the till at the bookmaker at 7pm on July 25.

Molloy, 45, of Chapel Street, Silsden, near Keighley, was sentenced on a video link to Leeds Prison.

Prosecutor Matthew Bean said he and his accomplice were wearing Covid-19 facemasks when they went into the shop at 6.20pm.

They returned soon afterwards and Molloy was caught on CCTV putting his hood up as he entered the shop where a female staff member was working alone.

The other man clambered over the counter, pushing aside the Perspex security screen and dropping the knife he had with him.

Molloy then leant over the counter and both robbers snatched the cash from the till.

Mr Bean said the staff member was petrified by the incident.

Molloy was arrested the following day after the CCTV footage in the shop was viewed.

He denied any involvement in the robbery, saying he had not been to Keighley town centre that month.

In her victim personal statement, the staff member said she had worked at Betfred for three years and been robbed before but this incident was worse.

She was scared at the time but more frightened when she thought about it afterwards, especially remembering the knife flying across the floor.

She could no longer work alone in the shop and she was thinking about leaving the job she loved.

Molloy had numerous previous convictions for theft and convictions for burglary.

More recently, he had been sentenced for possession with intent to supply cannabis and for driving offences.

Peter Hampton said in mitigation that Molloy sincerely apologised to the staff member. He was a long-term drug addict and committed the robbery out of desperation.

He had been very ill while on remand in prison, suffering a series of strokes and needing open heart surgery.

He had weaned himself off drugs and was determined to make a fresh start.

The Recorder of Bradford, Judge Richard Mansell QC, said Molloy and his accomplice “cased” the shop in their Covid-19 masks to “assess its vulnerability.”

During the robbery, a large knife fell from the other man’s pocket showing that he brought it with him in case it was needed.

Judge Mansell said the robbery had left the staff member with significant psychological harm. She had worked up to 60 hours a week in the shop but was now thinking about leaving the job.

A PERSISTENT child sex offender was jailed for two years for using a browser that concealed his online paedophilia and storing Category A indecent images of little girls.

Daryl Wainwright was made the subject of a ten-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order in January last year following a 29 month jail sentence for two offences of sexual assault on a girl under 13.

He was on licence when the police went to his home in Bradford Road, Brighouse, on November 26 this year and caught him with illegal images of children.

Wainwright, 29, pleaded guilty to possession of two Category A indecent moving images and breach of the Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) by installing a device on his tablet that masked his internet browsing history.

Prosecutor Adam Walker told the court that Wainwright, who was sentenced on a video link to HMP Leeds, was committed to the court in custody after admitting the offences at the magistrates’ court.

He was a registered sex offender after being convicted in Manchester in November 2018 of the sexual assault offences.

Mr Walker said that officers from the Public Protection Unit saw two charger cables connected to a tablet and phone at Wainwright’s address.

He claimed they did not have internet access but the officers saw a conversation on one of them relating to sexual activity with a child. They also discovered an indecent image of a young girl with an adult male.

Wainwright was arrested and the tablet and other devices seized. He admitted to officers that he had breached the SHPO and said they would find illegal images of children in his possession.

His barrister, Kate Riekstina, said he had been recalled to prison on licence until June.

She asked for full credit for his early guilty pleas.

Wainwright recognised that he had a problem and was keen to seek help from the probation service or other authorities when he was released.

He suffered with social anxiety and often preferred to be on his own.

Judge Colin Burn said it was a serious breach of the SHPO. Wainwright had deliberately installed a device to mask his browsing memory and obstruct the police’s access to his internet use.

The possession of indecent images of children amounted to causing serious harm by providing a market for them to be physically and psychologically abused.

Wainwright was jailed for 16 months for the breach and eight months to run consecutively for possession of the images. The SHPO is still in place.