Drug dealer jailed for selling heroin and crack cocaine on Harrogate streets

A Harrogate drug runner has been jailed for over three years for supplying heroin and crack cocaine.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

Daniel Chatten, 18, was first arrested in July when police spotted him walking furtively away from a known drug user in the town centre, York Crown Court heard.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He was bailed pending further enquiries but was then caught “bang at it” again, said prosecutor Dan Cordey.

Daniel Chatten, 18, was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail at York Crown Court.Daniel Chatten, 18, was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail at York Crown Court.
Daniel Chatten, 18, was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail at York Crown Court.

On this occasion, police spotted the teenager on Coach Road, arrested him and searched his home, where they found dozens of wraps of heroin and crack cocaine.

Chatten was inordinately cooperative with police, even telling them where to find the drugs cache, adding helpfully: “There’s loads!”

The brazen teen appeared for sentence via video link on Wednesday after pleading guilty to two counts of possessing Class A drugs with intent to supply.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Mr Cordey said officers on patrol in Tower Street on July 6 spotted Chatten “walking away from a known drug user”.

He ran off but was stopped in Victoria Avenue. Officers searched him and found £675 in his rucksack, as well as a “debt list” and a mobile phone that was “constantly ringing”. They also found 100 wraps of Class A drugs in his underpants, including 57 wraps of “high-purity” cocaine and 43 wraps of heroin.

As he was being arrested, Chatten bragged to officers that the cash found on him “wasn’t even half of a day’s takings”.

Mr Cordey said Chatten was operating as a drug “runner” on behalf of suppliers higher up the chain who badgered the teen with text messages such as “Sort it out” and “It’s getting late”.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Chatten was released on bail following his arrest, but about six weeks later patrol officers spotted him on Coach Road. Again, he tried to scuttle off but officers recognised him from his first arrest and he was quickly apprehended.

They found a single wrap of cocaine which Chatten had stuffed inside a cigarette lighter after unscrewing the top. Chatten’s phone was “ringing constantly again”, said Mr Cordey.

During a subsequent search of Chatten’s home, he told officers where they would find the drugs stash and added: “There’s loads – they’re in the wardrobe, in a sock in a jacket pocket.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Inside the wardrobe were two purple tubs containing 22 wraps of cocaine and 11 wraps of heroin. Officers also found a snap bag inside which were 23 smaller bags of heroin, a set of weighing scales, £160 in cash and 23 “deal” bags of crack cocaine.

In August at York Magistrates’ Court, Chatten, of no fixed address, was given a 12-month conditional discharge for sending an offensive or menacing text message on February 27. Magistrates committed him to the Crown Court for sentence on the drugs matters.

Nicholas Leadbeater, for Chatten, said his young client had no previous convictions for drug offences.

He said Chatten had begun selling drugs so he could buy his own house, and after his initial arrest he continued peddling heroin and cocaine to repay his “employers” for the drugs seized by police.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Jailing Chatten for three-and-a-half years, judge Sean Morris said he could not overlook the fact that the teenager had been dealing potentially lethal substances that “create misery”.

“To make things worse, once arrested – albeit (you were) honest with police – you were bang at it straight away because you were in debt,” added Mr Morris.

The judge made a confiscation order in relation to the cash seized from Chatten.