Harrogate drug pusher jailed for three years after heroin and cocaine discovery

Connor Kiernan, 22, was arrested in November 2020 when police stopped a Ford Fiesta in Grove Park Avenue following reports of a fight.

Kiernan, who was with another named man, was taken into custody and put in a holding cell where his cohort allegedly hid drug wraps in a crack in the wall, York Crown Court heard.

Officers discovered the drugs which were found to be 19 wraps of heroin and 48 wraps of high-purity crack cocaine, said prosecutor Angus MacDonald.

He said although the drugs had a “relatively low” street value of £670, they were just the “tip of the iceberg” in a co-ordinated and seemingly lucrative drug-supply operation.

While Kiernan and his sidekick were in custody, police searched Kiernan’s vehicle and found a crowbar, drug grinders, two mobile phones and a “tick list” with the names and addresses of contacts and drug customers.

Analysis of his mobile showed Snapchat conversations about dealing heroin and cocaine over a three-month period between August and November 2020.

It was also found he had “sent instructions to a contact to measure out quantities of cocaine and heroin” and discussed the “bagging up” of drugs into hundreds of “street deals”.

Kiernan was charged with being concerned in the supply of heroin and crack cocaine and ultimately admitted the offences.

He appeared for sentence today after being remanded in custody.

Mr MacDonald said that neither Kiernan nor his cohort could give police a “plausible explanation for why they were in Harrogate”.

He added that Kiernan, currently residing at Deerbolt young-offenders’ institution in Durham, had played an “operational or management” role in the drug chain and must have “expected significant financial gain” by dealing high-purity cocaine.

The court heard he had previous convictions including possessing heroin and cocaine with intent to supply which resulted in a two-year suspended prison sentence in July 2019.

In November last year, at Preston Crown Court, he was jailed for being concerned in the supply of Class A drugs. That sentence post-dated the new offences in Harrogate.

Kenneth Green, for Kiernan, said his client was due to be released from that sentence in December next year.

Recorder Tahir Khan KC said Kiernan had been “heavily involved in the supply of heroin and crack cocaine”.

Kiernan was jailed for three years but will only serve half of that behind bars before being released on prison licence.