‘Scourge of estate’ drug dealer tried to make addict take blame

Police discovered crack cocaine, heroin and cash during a raid on the home of mother-of-one Vicki Bentley, 42, who was living in Swarcliffe, Leeds, during March 2009, Leeds Crown Court was told.

After denying that the drugs and cash were hers, she was bailed as police continued their investigations.

Two months later, a 34-year-old man walked into a Leeds police station to “confess” that the drugs and cash were his but police did not accept his story.

Detectives believe that the man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was prepared to take the blame for Bentley in exchange for £5,000 in cash.

Yesterday Bentley, of Langbar Place, was jailed for six years after she admitted conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, possession of criminal property and two counts of possession with intent to supply class A drugs.

Her co-accused, who admitted conspiracy to pervert the course of justice over the false confession, was jailed for nine months.

The court had previously heard that he claimed to have bought the drugs after being given £5,000 pounds as a gift from his family, who had recently won a large amount of money through a Lottery syndicate.

Police investigations suggested that over Christmas 2008 he had told his parents that his share of the winnings had already been spent.

In a statement from the man’s mother, which was read to the court, he was said to have confided during a phone call from prison, where he was serving a sentence for burglary, that Vicki Bentley had paid him £5,000 to “take the rap”.

Bentley had claimed that her drug dealing was limited to a small number of people and was only done to support her own habit.

But her story was rejected after the prosecution argued that messages on her phone indicated that she was a drug dealer on a “commercial” scale.

Bentley’s boyfriend and co-accused, John Nicholson, 43, of Swarcliffe Avenue, Swarcliffe, was sentenced to four years after he admitted possession with intent to supply Class A drugs and possession of criminal property.

The court heard yesterday that Vicki Bentley has a long list of previous convictions, involving 32 offences many of them concerning drugs including ecstasy, amphetamines and cannabis.

Her boyfriend also has a string of previous offences, including three involving drugs such as heroin.

The 34-year-old, who cannot be named, has 49 previous offences going back to the early 1990s and has previously served time in prison for theft and attempted burglary.

Detective Sergeant Mark Holbery, who led the investigation into the trio, described Bentley as a “persistent scourge” in Swarcliffe.

He said: “Vicky Bentley has been a persistent scourge in the community of Swarcliffe for a considerable time and today her persistent attempts at avoiding justice have come to an end.

“Her imprisonment should serve as a demonstration that those who feel they are above law are simply not and will be identified, arrested and brought before the courts.”

Sentencing Bentley to six years, Recorder Jonathan Sandiford told her: “One only has to sit in these courts to realise they (drugs) wreck lives – the lives of addicts, children and the families who have to put up with them.

“Those who deal in drugs for commercial profit should expect to go to jail.”

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said the North East Leeds Proceeds of Crime Act Team had been successfully granted a confiscation order for the £5,110 found in Bentley’s home along with £3,595 seized from John Nicholson.