A HEROIN dealer caught in a police crackdown on the Weymouth drug trade has received a lengthy prison sentence.

Darren Paul Kinsella, 39, was jailed for four years and eight months after he admitted five charges of possessing heroin and eight counts of supplying the class A drug.

Dorset Police’s Operation Dismantle saw an undercover officer operating in the resort between last summer and February this year.

As a result 12 people have now received prison sentences for drug supply offences and several others have appeared before the courts.

Joanna Morrissey, prosecuting, said Kinsella’s possession offences related to an incident on July 14 when police were called to evict the defendant and someone else from a property in Weymouth they were living in at the time.

After conducting a search they discovered five wraps of heroin in the pocket of a pair of jeans belonging to Kinsella.

He told police he had just withdrawn £220 in benefits and had bought a week’s supply for himself and his partner.

Miss Morrissey said while Kinsella was on bail for those offences he met the undercover officer on August 8 and subsequently supplied him with heroin on eight occasions over the next three months.

On six occasions Kinsella supplied one wrap for £10 and on the other two the officer purchased three wraps for £25.

Miss Morrissey said on the second occasion, on August 11, the officer met a group of people on the Rodwell Trail and asked ‘is everyone waiting for Daz?’.

She added: “The defendant arrived, leant up against a wall and opened his hand to reveal about 20 cling film wraps.”

Miss Morrissey said Kinsella, who was arrested in Cornwall in February this year, had six previous convictions for drug offences.

Neil Hinton, mitigating, said Kinsella, formerly of Crescent Street, Weymouth, had managed to get clean of heroin for ‘some period of time’ but had relapsed last summer and began dealing to fund his habit.

He added: “He was dealing on a small scale in the street.

“He is not a sophisticated supplier.”

Judge Roger Jarvis said it was clear Kinsella was a ‘street dealer of some significance’.

He sentenced Kinsella to a total of 20 months in prison for the possession offences and a further three years for the supply charges.

A WEYMOUTH man who sold heroin to an undercover police officer has been given a community punishment.

Nigel Shaun Treadwell, aged 32, of Walpole Street committed the offence after being approached by the officer at Weymouth train station last August as part of Operation Dismantle.

Prosecutor Joanna Morrissey told Dorchester Crown Court Treadwell was standing in a group with others when the officer approached and asked if he could buy drugs.

Miss Morrissey said Treadwell asked what the officer wanted and the undercover operative replied ‘dark’.

The court heard Treadwell said he would try calling a friend to buy some but got no answer after dialling a phone number.

Miss Morrissey said the defendant and the officer then walked to the dealer’s house where the officer gave Treadwell £10.

The court heard Treadwell took the money and later returned with a wrap containing a substance that was later tested and found to be 150mg of heroin with a purity of 36 per cent.

Miss Morrissey said Treadwell was arrested in February for the offence and admitted in a police interview that he had supplied the wrap to the officer.

Treadwell also told the interviewing officers he had not used heroin himself for several months by this point.

Miss Morrissey said Treadwell appeared in court with 19 convictions for 42 previous offences, including a number of offences of possessing cannabis and class A drugs as well as shoplifting, theft and being drunk and disorderly in public.

Treadwell also admitted his latest offence put him in breach of a two-year conditional discharge imposed on him last June for a shoplifting offence.

Neil Hinton, mitigating, said that his client had been ‘somewhat the worse for wear’ at his last court hearing which had to be adjourned before he could be sentenced.

At the latest hearing, Mr Hinton said his client appeared as a ‘very different person some two months later’.

Mr Hinton added: “It’s fair to say his new partner has assisted him greatly and she’s here, sat in the public gallery.”

Judge Roger Jarvis told Treadwell he appeared before the court with a ‘dreadful’ list of previous convictions but acknowledged that Treadwell had been ‘making diligent efforts to address his dependency issues’.

Judge Jarvis said it was ‘not in the public interest to halt that enterprise’ and said that imposing a prison sentence might only serve to make Treadwell ‘lose motivation’ and drift back into drug use.

The judge handed down a 12-month community order with an attached supervision requirement to Treadwell and ordered him to complete a six-month alcohol treatment course. Judge Jarvis also warned Treadwell that a jail term would ‘probably be the only outcome’ if he appeared before the court again.