Drug dealer who 'groomed' teenagers jailed

A drug dealer who "battered" two teenagers he recruited to work for him has been jailed for seven years.

Connor Deans, 30, of Raymond Street, Bradford, was caught on camera slapping the 18-year-olds after the car he had provided for them to carry out their street dealing was involved in a crash.

Bradford Crown Court heard Deans originally faced charges under the Modern Slavery Act, but his guilty plea to being concerned in the supply of Class A drugs was accepted by the prosecution.

Jailing Deans, Recorder Tony Watkin said: "You are not simply a drug dealer. You are a child abuser."

The court heard Deans was traced and arrested after one of the teenagers sent messages to a social worker.

The messages suggested that the teenager was in "imminent danger" after crashing the car linked to Deans.

The teenager said he had had already given Deans £400 for the damage and wanted no more to do with drug dealing.

In November last year, police found Deans in a car with both teenagers and a mobile phone which contained advertising messages for his cocaine dealing.

The teenagers both described being "groomed" by Deans before being intimidated and threatened with violence.

The judge said the messages sent to the social worker demonstrated the "bullying and control" exercised by Deans.

He said his behaviour was "cowardly and pathetic" and said he had used the teenagers to work shifts.

"They were driving about peddling the evil that you were selling," he said.

Deans was previously jailed for drug dealing in 2013 and 2019, and the judge told him he would have faced a nine-year sentence if it were not for his guilty plea.

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