THREE members of a Selby drugs gang that ran a cocaine network stretching from Leeds to East Yorkshire have been jailed for nearly 20 years after a three-year police investigation.

Twice police caught gang leaders with tens of thousands of cocaine in their car as they made deliveries to dealers further down the supply chain, Robert Stevenson, prosecuting, said.

The gang boss, Matthew Evans, 38, also ran a cannabis operation and involved his 69-year-old father David Evans in his crimes. Neither man had been in trouble with the police before.

Mr Stevenson said the network ran for months in 2016 and 2017 with many deliveries into East Yorkshire before police closed it down.

The Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris, said: "It is all about greed. It is all about money."

He was sentencing six gang members, all of whom except Adam Partington, pleaded guilty.

Detective Constable Tim Jackson, the officer in the case, said: “Serious and organised crime linked to the supply of Class A and other types of illegal drugs causes so much damage to individuals and communities across county borders.

“Those involved in this criminality only care about profiting from other people’s desperation and misery.

“It is only through direct intervention and committed investigation by the police, assisted by vital information and intelligence provided by concerned members of the public, that we are able to put a stop to their activities and bring such despicable criminals to justice.”

Matthew Evans, of Doncaster Road, Selby, was given eight years and eight months for conspiracies to supply cocaine and cannabis, and possessing Ecstasy.

His "trusted lieutenant" Lee Robert Waring, 40, as the prosecution and judge described him, of Cottingley Fold, Beeston, was jailed for six years and eight months, for conspiracy to supply cocaine and possessing extreme pornography.

Dealer Partington, 39, of Palm House Drive, Selby was jailed for four and a half years after a jury convicted him of being concerned in cocaine supply.

Fellow dealer Soraya Bashir, 39, was given a two-year prison sentence suspended for two years on condition she does 250 hours' unpaid work after admitting being concerned in the supply of cocaine.

The judge said she had been "completely ignorant" of the seriousness of what she had been doing, believing it was "just party drugs" she was selling.

To David Evans, of Moat Way, Selby, the judge said: "What on earth were you doing? Here you are in the evening of your life with a criminal conviction."

The father was given a 12-month community order with 200 hours' unpaid work after admitting allowing the storage of cannabis in the family's industrial unit near Skipwith, north of Selby.

Jake Waudby, 25, of Hollywood, Selby, was given a 15-month prison sentence suspended for two years on condition he does 300 hours' unpaid work. He admitted conspiracy to supply cannabis.

Cannabis dealer, Katie Megan Taylor, 27, of Elsie Street, Goole, will be sentenced later.

For Matthew Evans, Susannah Proctor said he was a hard-working motor mechanic who had been a drug user for many years.

Barristers for the defendants generally said they had changed for the better since their arrests in 2017.