Drug dealer jailed for £45k cocaine trade

Harvey Dawson was jailed for more than five years

A drug dealer who arranged a trade of £45,000 worth of cocaine has been jailed for five years and two months.

Harvey Dawson, 28, also attempted to organise further deals for more of the Class A drug and ketamine on EncroChat in 2020, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

He was caught after law enforcement infiltrated the secure communications network favoured by criminals, resulting in hundreds of arrests under Operation Venetic.

Dawson, who operated in the Gosforth and Jesmond areas of Newcastle and now lives in North Shields, admitted conspiring to supply Class A and B drugs.

Under the username Misty Buffalo, Dawson, whose address was given as a pub on Borough Road, arranged several deals in March and April 2020, prosecutor Peter Sabiston said.

He organised the delivery of 1kg (2.2lb) of cocaine worth £45,000 from London and attempted to get a further 2kg (4.4lb) of the drug, the court heard.

'Wicked trade'

Messages were also found in which he sought to get 10kg (22lb) of ketamine, Mr Sabiston said, with the prosecutor adding Dawson had played a "significant role".

In mitigation, Christopher Knox said the offences were committed four and half years ago when Dawson was a "young man" having "psychiatric difficulties" for which he had since received extensive treatment and turned his life around.

The case had been delayed through the legal system by discussions about the size of the role played by Dawson, the court heard.

Record Andrew Haslam KC said the illegal drug market was a "wicked trade" that "plies on victims who are addicted to those drugs".

He said the reward for dealers was "huge" so the consequences of being caught and convicted had to be "very great".