Luke Jobson: Drug dealer involved in Yarm man's death jailed

Edwin Taha was convicted of affray after he was involved in the death of Luke Jobson who died after he was chased through Yarm town centre by a gang of youths.

The 24-year-old was deported to his native France in January 2023 after he was released from custody after the 22-year-old engineering student drowned when he fled after he was surrounded by a 'pack of wolves' on the night he died.

Luke Jobson

Teesside Crown Court heard how Taha illegally re-entered the country within months of his deportation before returning to Teesside and dealing drugs to fund his lifestyle.

Taha was arrested after cocaine, cash and gold jewellery were recovered from his car and home when he was stopped in Hartlepool.

He was driving along Grange Road on September 14 when he was pulled over by officers driving a white Mercedes.

Saba Shan, prosecuting, said Taha was convicted of possession of cocaine when he was arrested on Merseyside in August last year but was not deported again.

She said police estimated that the cocaine recovered following his arrest in September was valued at around £10,000 alongside a can of CS spray, a baseball bat, a hammer and a large quantity of cash and jewellery.

Edwin Taha (Image: Cleveland Police)

Taha, of Park Lane, Middlesbrough, pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to supply, possession of a prohibited weapon – CS spray, entering the country illegally, driving without a licence and driving without insurance.

He pleaded not guilty to two charges of possession of criminal property, the cash and gold, and was told that those charges would lie on file. They will be the subject of a separate hearing the court heard.

David Ward, mitigating, said his client now accepts that his future lies in France and not in the UK.

He added: “His main reason for coming back was because he had a child due to be born here and is now eight weeks old.

“He was funding his ability to stay using means that he should not have been. He is a man who is going to be deported at the end of his sentence.”

Judge Timothy Stead jailed the drug dealer to a total of five years and nine months for all offences.

He said: “You were served a deportation order and deported to France on January 13 and within months you had illegally returned to the UK. You were apprehended and by some misfortune, you were released and took part in this criminality.

“Having returned to the UK, within a relatively short period of time, you were engaged in serious criminal activity. When you were arrested, you were in possession of CS gas spray and other weapons.

“You had possession of cocaine valued at £10,000 along with scales, zip bags and the paraphernalia of drug trafficking.”

In October 2020, the same court heard how Mr Jobson had been running away from the gang as he headed towards safety at a family member's home in the town in the early hours of January 26, 2019.

After a failed pursuit on foot Taha then returned to a vehicle, which was driven by Ali Abdulmajieed, leading to a further altercation at Yarm School during which Taha sprayed a substance in Luke’s eyes from a bottle he was carrying.

Luke Jobson being surrounded by the 'pack of wolves' before he died

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Jobson was surrounded by the 'pack of wolves' on Yarm High Street on the night he went missing.

The men then drove away leaving Luke Jobson in the grounds of Yarm School, where he was captured on CCTV entering a boathouse sometime later Mr Jobson was left stumbling around the grounds before tragically ending up in the River Tees, where his body was later recovered.

Taha was sent to a young offenders’ institute for 21 months for the affray and given an additional four years and four months for the drug charges.

Adbulmajieed, of Corvus Drive, Stockton, also changed his plea to guilty on the day of the trial, was given a 15-month custodial sentence, suspended for two years.

The 22-year-old’s mother read out a heart-wrenching statement as Taha and Abdulmajieed were sentenced for affray in the minutes leading up to his disappearance.