Mum-of-three jailed for drug dealing (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Mum-of-three jailed for drug dealing

HALF a dozen drug dealers in Gloucestershire caught red-handed in a police sting were jailed for a total of 21 years this week.

Dealers from Cheltenham, Stroud and Cirencester all pleaded guilty to possession of heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply at Gloucester Crown Court.

They were caught last November after police posed as customers during an undercover sting - Operation Pandora.

The court heard how Denise Reynolds, 36, of St Michaels, Cirencester, William Bonner, 33, of Hobert House, Cheltenham, Christopher Delaney, 40, of Bishop's Court, Cheltenham, Graham Jenkins, 36, of Clevedon Square, Cheltenham, Timothy Tandy, of St Peter's Square, Cheltenham, and Matthew Cross, 26, of Stanton Road, Stroud, had all been befriended by officers.

After obtaining their mobile phone numbers the plain-clothed officers arranged a series of meetings in which wraps of crack cocaine and heroin were exhanged in deals of £10 and £20.

The acquaintance lasted for several days while enough evidence of drugs supply was gathered, then arrests were made.

Most of the barristers defending the six dealers in a succession of cases at the crown court said their clients only dealt to feed their own growing habits.

Reynolds, who got two years and six months, has recently lost her husband and is left with three children to look after.

Bonner, who was jailed for three years and nine months, was offered a free bag of heroin for every £10 worth of heroin he sold, said prosecutor Janine Wood.

Former electrical engineer Delaney, who was given three years, was told by Judge Martin Picton that he had "thrown his life away" for his habit.

Jenkins, who got four years and six months, showed no remorse for his dealing, while Tandy, who got three years, had a supportive girlfriend who was "standing by him".

Cross, who got four years and three months, refused to name the Mr Big for whom he was working for fear of reprisals.

Judge Martin Picton condemned the six as low-level dealers who took the rap for more sophisticated drug barons.

He said: "Dealers are protected by their members of staff who take all the risk of arrest so that the holders can sit at home safe from detection and able to carry on dealing and profiting from the misery of others. This then transfers to the public by the commission of offences necessary to pay for addictions."

More prosecutions under Operation Pandora are expected in the next few months.