A STREER dealer caught with wraps of heroin and cocaine has been jailed for two-and-a-half years at Bradford Crown Court.

Daniel Archibald was said to have been exploited by people higher up the supply chain and was paid in drugs to feed his own habit.

Archibald, 56, was found with 55 prepared wraps of diamorphine and crack cocaine with an approximate street value of £565 on New Road, Halifax, on January 11, 2022.

As police were speaking to him a text appeared on his mobile phone, which had been seized, that read: “You got people there waiting for you, so don’t be long please”, which prosecutor Jane Brady said was clear evidence of people waiting to be supplied.

During interview, Archibald mainly answered “no comment” to questions and refused to divulge pin numbers for two more mobile phones found at his home.

Miss Brady said he was selling direct to users as he was found on the street.

Archibald, who appeared via video link from HMP Leeds and spoke only to confirm his name,  was convicted on February 5 this year of two counts of possession with intent to supply following a three-day trial.

Mitigating, Michael Greenhalgh said Archibald had been living “in abject squalor” at the time of his arrest and was heavily addicted and using Class A drugs.

He added: “That in turn made him vulnerable. Others exploited that vulnerability and had him on the streets dealing drugs. His gain, such as it was, would be limited to be the supply of his own drugs.”

He said his role was “limited”, that he had no influence on others above him in a chain of supply, and that he was dealing to people that were already addicted.

He said Archibald, of Union Street in Halifax, was anxious to access assistance for his addiction and suggested a suspended jail term would help him break the cycle of drug abuse.

Judge Gibson said the wraps found in Archibald’s possession were ready for street dealing and that text messages arriving on his phone were indicative of street dealing with people waiting for him to supply them.

Jailing him for 30 months he added: “It seems to me it’s far too serious a case for me to suspend the sentence.”

He ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the drugs that were seized on the day.