UK and Ireland courts impose jail terms on drug dealer and taxi robber

Kevin Lewis, a 37‑year‑old man of no fixed abode, was sentenced at Teesside Crown Court to three years and four months in prison after pleading guilty to possession of crack cocaine with intent to supply. Police stopped him on Gresham Road in Middlesbrough after observing a drug transaction, leading to his arrest and conviction.

Lee Hand, a 25‑year‑old from Dublin, was convicted at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court and received a concurrent sentence of three years and nine months for a robbery in which he grabbed a taxi driver by the neck, threatened stabbing, and stole cash, a mobile phone and the vehicle’s dash‑cam. He also received a separate two‑year‑three‑month term for an earlier SuperValu robbery. The judge ordered a suspended portion of the sentence and placed him under probation supervision.