IF any case illustrates the changing face of crime, it is that of drug dealer Ross Brennan.

From a house in York, the 28-year-old graduate used his sophisticated computer skills to co-ordinate a massive international drug smuggling and supply operation.

He did so knowing that the drugs he was supplying could kill. Prosecutors at his trial said that three of his ‘customers’ had died of drug-related offences, though they were unable to prove that he directly caused their deaths. Brennan himself told a friend over the internet: “I have blood on me. I know there are bodies out there on me.”

Yet, hidden away behind his computer keyboard on the darker reaches of the ‘dark web’, he seems to have believed that he was untouchable.

Unfortunately for him - but fortunately for the rest of us - North Yorkshire Police now have their own team of highly skilled digital crime experts.

They worked tirelessly to bring Brennan and his sidekick Aaron Gledhill to justice. Today, Brennan is beginning a jail term of almost 14 years, while Gledhill has been sentenced to nearly four years.

Jailing Brennan, Judge Andrew Stubbs said that he was a sophisticated 21st Century criminal who had believed himself untouchable.

Thanks to the cyber skills of investigators at North Yorkshire Police, Brennan was mistaken.

Members of the public regularly say they’d like to see more bobbies on the beat. We have been guilty of that ourselves, because there is something very reassuring about the sight of a uniformed officer on patrol. To catch criminals like Brennan, however, what is needed is not bobbies on the beat, but bobbies on computer keyboards.

Congratulations to the force’s keyboard detectives for bringing this disgusting man to justice.