VIOLENT drug dealers who targeted a North Yorkshire town have been jailed for a total of 50 years.

Mohamed Abdi, 26, Adirahman Shire, 22, and Julian Soares, 23, stabbed a Leeds man 12 times and Soares threw a corrosive liquid into the face of a 37-year-old Harrogate man on October 20 last year.

A third man was also stabbed during the hour of violence on Skipton Road and Kings Road, Harrogate, that day.

All three defendants had moved into Harrogate from their bases in Leicester and London some weeks earlier and set up business selling heroin and cocaine by “cuckooing” or forcing vulnerable people to turn their homes into drug dealing centres.

They suspected that the victims of their violence were rival drug dealers.

Abdi, of Tower Street, Leicester, Shire, of Oak Street, Leicester, and Soares, of Brixton, London, all denied wounding by intent to cause grievous bodily harm and conspiracy to supply cocaine. Soares also denied administering a noxious substance and conspiracy to supply heroin. All were convicted by a jury after a two-week trial at Leeds Crown Court.

Abdi admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine.

Soares was jailed for 20 years, Shire for 15 and Abdi for 14 years and nine months.

Detective Inspector Ian Pope, of Harrogate Investigation Hub, said: “We’re extremely pleased with today’s sentence which reflects the gravity of their offending. I hope the fact that three violent drug dealers are now behind bars provides reassurance for members of the public.

“This case had all the hallmarks of the violent tactics used by those involved in county lines which remains a priority for North Yorkshire Police. We won’t stop here and can assure local people that more prosecutions will follow."