Prolific York drug dealer is in court again

Police have arrested Trevor Paxton, 65, three times with cannabis since he, his wife and two sons were jailed in 2007 for conspiracy to supply cannabis.

On that occasion, Judge Paul Hoffman, then York’s top judge, told him: “You are the father and the head of the household. The house was awash with drugs and cash.”

Twice since then, he has been spared prison for cannabis dealing, in 2011 and in 2015. But now he has been warned he is likely to go back to jail.

Paxton, of Spalding Avenue, Clifton will learn his sentence on Friday. Last Friday, he pleaded guilty at York Crown Court to possessing 193g of cannabis with intent to supply it to others. Police estimate it would be worth £1,930 if sold. Adjourning sentence so lawyers can gather medical evidence, Recorder Richard Wright QC warned him: “As you know and understand, a custodial sentence is highly likely in your case.”

Paxton is subject to a nine-month suspended prison sentence, passed in July 2015 for a similar offence. Last year, York Crown Court heard police found £2,000 worth of cannabis in a bag hanging over a garden shed in a neighbouring garden to the Paxton family home so that it appeared to belong to the neighbour but could be reached from the Paxton garden.

In 2011, magistrates gave Paxton a six-month curfew for possessing cannabis with intent to supply it after he was caught with a bag containing cannabis worth between £250 and £287. He told them it was a “welcome home” present for his son Stephen who was in prison at the time.

Stephen, now 37, was jailed alongside his father, brother Christopher and mother Katherine in 2007 after all four admitted conspiracy to supply cannabis. York Crown Court heard they netted more than £100,000 from their trade.

That time, Stephen was jailed for a year, the father for two years, the mother for 18 months and Christopher, who also admitted fake DVD and illegal firework charges for 27 months.