A dealer caught by police outside Leeds United’s Elland Road stadium told police: “It’s not like I’m Scarface or Al Capone”.
Robert Carr was seen by officers smoking a joint near to the Billy Bremner statue on the corner of Elland Road and Lowfields Road on March 19, 2021, Leeds Crown Court heard. The officers could smell the cannabis and so approached him.
Carr admitted smoking a joint, but then ran off. He was eventually detained and was found to have a small bag of cannabis on him, along with six small bags of cocaine, which was estimated to be worth between £600 and £1,500.
Carr, of The Heights East in Armley, then told police he compared himself to Al Pacino’s drug-dealer character in the 1983 hit film Scarface and Al Capone, the renowned 1930s Mafia chief. Carr claimed the drugs were for personal use, but communications related to drug distribution were discovered on his phone.
The 32-year-old later admitted a charge of being concerned in the supply of cannabis and dealing cocaine. He maintains that he was a heavy cannabis user and sold it to fund his own habit, and was a casual cocaine user who sold to close friends in order to get cocaine for free. The basis was accepted by the Crown.
Carr has more than 30 convictions but only one previous for drug-related matters.
Keeping with the gangster theme, his barrister Christopher Dunn told the judge: “Al Capone would never have drawn attention to himself by smoking cannabis 200 metres away from the biggest operational police station in West Yorkshire.
“It’s probably indicative of this defendant’s mindset. He is not an arch criminal or big-time drug dealer. It rises out of naivety. He just does not think about his actions until the consequences are upon him.” He said Carr was an expectant father and now had a “change in his approach to life”.
“You’re getting too old for this,” Judge Kate Rayfield admonished Carr. You’re expecting a child. You’ve spent your entire twenties in and out of prison.”
She stated that she was “just persuaded” to keep him in prison. He was sentenced to 22 months in prison, suspended for 18 months, given 15 days of rehabilitation, and a three-month electronic tag curfew.
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