Whitby cocaine dealer who bragged he had "the best powder in town" jailed for over two years

Lewis Elwick, 24, was plying his illicit trade for almost two-and-a-half years, during which time his bank accounts swelled by more than £39,000 through dodgy deposits and “third-party credits”, York Crown Court heard.

So lucrative was Elwick’s one-man drug enterprise that, just under two years after it began, he “hadn’t needed to withdraw any cash”, said prosecutor Glenn Parsons.

Meanwhile, he was sending out “broadcast” messages to his many customers, advertising “the best (cocaine) in town”.

During a period of about three months, between March and May 2021, Elwick’s nefarious adverts reached over 1,400 prospective customers.

Mr Parsons said that between April 2020 and March 2021 alone, at the height of the national Covid lockdowns, just short of £20,000 wormed its way into Elwick’s NatWest bank accounts.

Police swooped on Elwick’s home in February 2021, but he wasn’t at home.

However, other officers spotted him walking a “large” Rottweiler near his home in The Rise and he was secretly followed by a police constable.

Elwick headed for The Ropery near Green Lane and snuck into an alleyway where he met up with another man for a drug deal.

The other man ran back down the snicket, but officers stopped Elwick who was searched.

They found six black dealer bags of cocaine in his jogging bottoms, £280 cash and a further dealer bag in his jacket.

He was arrested and taken in for questioning at Scarborough Police Station while another police team searched his home in Whitby.

In his bedroom they found bundles of cash on his bedside table, in a sock drawer and even on a mirror.

Inside a built-in wardrobe, they found a concealed ledge, or “drug hiding place”, upon which was a plastic bag full of cocaine and six black bags containing nearly three grammes of cocaine “rocks”.

Officers discovered more bags inside the bedroom containing 27g of cocaine and nearly 5g of cannabis “flower tops”, as well as weighing scales.

In total, they seized 32g of cocaine, just over an ounce, worth up to £2,380, as well as £5,776 in cash hidden around the house.

Mr Parsons said police also found mobile phones which Elwick had used to send out hundreds of “broadcast” messages to drug customers.

In one of the messages, he told his customers: “I’m about all day – best in town”.

He said the messages were sent out “in batches”. Over a five-day period in March 2021, they were sent to 587 people.

In April 21, they were sent out to 491 individuals.

Broadcast messages sent out on one sample day in May 2021 reached 426 people.

Mr Parsons said there were 45 broadcasts in total between March and May 2021 alone which reached 1,436 drug users.

When Elwick received responses, he would meet the users, usually within walking distance of his home.

Elwick was charged with possessing cocaine with intent to supply, offering to supply a Class A drug, possessing cannabis, and possession of criminal property, namely the £5,776 cash.

The drug racket lasted from January 2019 to May 2021.

Defence barrister Ian Mullarkey said Elwick was addicted to cocaine at the time and had shown “genuine remorse and shame” for what was his own drug enterprise.

Character references from family, friends and Elwick’s employer spoke of an otherwise “impeccable character” on whom his mother and grandmother “relied heavily”.

Judge Simon Hickey told Elwick: “The problem with dealing in Class A drugs is (that) it’s a miserable, degrading drug. It’s the worst drug we deal with in society.

“It causes addiction, it causes death and causes health to deteriorate, and furthermore, it spreads out into our society. It’s a pernicious, unpleasant and nasty drug.”

He added: “You were a willing drug dealer and you were dealing to a great number of people in the streets of Whitby.”

The judge said although Elwick was otherwise a man of “impeccable character” who had only one previous conviction for drug-driving, it had to be an immediate prison sentence for such serious offences.

Elwick was jailed for two-and-a-half years – a heavily reduced sentence because of his strong mitigation – but he will only serve half of that behind bars before being released on prison licence.

He is now also facing financial-confiscation proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act to determine how much he has to pay back for his ill-gotten gains.