Hartlepool drugs gang snared after undercover police posed as addicts
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Officers posing as addicts bought £20 deals of the Class A drug every day for a week in Hartlepool from Adam Marshall, 41, Peter Brown, 54, and Kirsty Henderson, 29, Teesside Crown Court was told
The police operation took them in October 2019 to addresses in Charterhouse Street and Marlborough Road, said prosecutor Anthony Pettengell.
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Hide AdThe drug pickups followed numerous phone calls after Brown gave them a number scribbled on a scrap of paper, said Mr Pettengell.
Brown appeared to be directing operations and on one occasion had a bag with five wraps of cocaine.
Marshall, who was in a relationship with Henderson, was also caught on CCTV beating her up on a landing outside his town flat.
Rachael Landin, defending Marshall, said Marshall had spent the equivalent of more than a year in custody awaiting sentence.
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Hide AdMartin Scarborough, defending Henderson, said she had few previous convictions and none for drug offences.
James Howard, defending Brown, said Brown accepted that he was directing the two others.
After the three admitted supplying cocaine, Judge Howard Crowson told them: ”The police have worked hard to overcome the cocaine problem which has an insidious effect of people’s lives.”
Brown, of Wynyard Mews, Hartlepool, was jailed for two years and eight months
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Hide AdMarshall, of Tower Chambers Apartments, Hartlepool, was sentenced to 22 months jail, which was suspended for 18 months, and ordered to complete a Building Better Relationships programme after he also admitted assault by beating.
Henderson, of Tower Street, Hartlepool, had her sentence deferred for three months after she also admitted shoplifting offences.