A DRUG user responsible for a spate of city centre crimes that left one man dead and a taxi driver traumatised has been jailed for five and a half years.

Jordan Hipkins, 24, injected James Moore, 44, with heroin in a shop doorway in Micklegate, York, at 4am on May 25 last year, said Jonathan Sharp, prosecuting.

Mr Moore collapsed with a heart attack and brain damage and died 12 days later in hospital on June 5.

His sister Hannah, who visited him many times in hospital, said in a personal statement: “He had many years of life ahead of him. One stupid incident could take all that away.

“This whole sad story has had a deep and lasting impact on my life and will continue to do so.”

Hipkins was on a suspended prison sentence at the time for causing actual bodily harm to a cyclist by forcing him off his bike and kicking him to the face, Leeds Crown Court heard on Monday.

Released on bail after the death, Hipkins attacked a taxi and its driver after trying to undertake it on his own bicycle while it was turning left, said Mr Sharp.

Another person grabbed the taxi driver’s takings.

The taxi driver said in his personal statement the incident had left him so traumatised he no longer felt safe working in the city centre and had been unable to work for two months.

Hipkins, of North Street, central York, pleaded guilty to manslaughter, assaulting the taxi driver, causing £643 damage to the taxi, and obstructing a police community support officer in a separate incident.

He was jailed for five years for the manslaughter plus three months of the suspended sentence and three months for the other offences.

Richard Wright QC, defending, said it was common for drug users to share drugs.

Hipkins had taken some of the same batch of heroin himself earlier that night and had no reason to believe it would be fatal for Mr Moore, the court heard.

His girlfriend was expecting their child in the next few weeks.

Mr Wright added that Hipkins’ childhood had been difficult and that meant he had a short fuse and easily lost his temper.

Detective Constable Michael Johnston, of York Serious Crime team, said: “Hipkins waited until the very last minute to admit his guilt, putting Mr Moore’s only surviving relative through the ordeal of the court process until he eventually pleaded guilty.

“Our thoughts remain with Mr Moore’s relative who has not only endured the loss of James, but had to see him suffer in the days leading up to his death. I hope they take some comfort that someone has now been held accountable for his death.”

Mr Sharp told the court that although Hipkins had a flat, he had decided to sleep in the doorway so he could beg.

Mr Moore, who knew him, joined him at 1.23am on May 25, and consented to the injection.

The drug combined with the “significant amount of alcohol” he had consumed.