No white Christmas for drug dealers caught conducting Christmas Eve crack deal in Leamington car park

One man has been jailed and another handed a suspended sentence after the pair were caught conducting a Christmas Eve crack deal in a Leamington car park.

On December 24, 2020, Aaron Richards, 44, and Chris White, 48, were seen on CCTV dealing crack cocaine in Leamington’s Covent Garden multi-storey.

A small group of drug users attended, with one lighting a crack pipe and then breaking into song and dance.

Officers were called and Richards was found with cash and 100 wraps of crack.

White, who was found with £230 in cash, told officers that he had already bought and consumed crack and thus there were no grounds for arrest. Both men were promptly arrested.

They were both charged with possession of crack cocaine with intent to supply.

And on Wednesday June 14, both pleaded guilty.

Richards, of Dorset House in Bournemouth, was handed a two-year suspended sentence while White, of Regent Place in Leamington, was sentenced to four years in prison.

PC Alfie Motram said: “We will continue to arrest drug dealers and present them to the courts.

“They are willing to poison our communities and wreck lives to make cash – and that is absolutely reprehensible.

“On at least one occasion that day ordinary, decent members of the public had to walk past as these people were conducting their criminal activities.

“We were more than happy to ensure that both men did not get to have a white Christmas.”