Heroin and crack dealer is locked up
Darren Connolly
A MAN named as the main dealer of class A drugs on Hayling Island is today behind bars.
Darren Connelly travelled from London to peddle heroin and crack cocaine on the town’s streets in a bid to pay off a drug debt.
But he was snared after police received information about drugs being dealt by someone from outside the area.
Officers tracked him down to an address in Wheatlands Avenue and spoke to him outside the property as part of their inquiries.
As Connelly, 21, left the address he picked up a jacket and a packet from the sofa which he put in his pocket. The packet was found to contain 49 wraps with a total of 15g of crack cocaine in and 75 wraps with a total of 23.3g of heroin in as well as £560 cash.
The drugs had an potential street value of £1,680.
Portsmouth Crown Court heard Connelly had travelled to Hayling Island to deal drugs to pay off a debt he owed to his dealer who, he claimed, had made threats.
Daniel Sawyer, prosecuting, said: ‘The defendant had come down from London, been put up in the house and was then dealing on the streets, but it is accepted he was doing it on behalf of somebody higher up the chain.’
Connelly, of Hackney Road, London, was jailed for two-and-a-half years after admitting two counts of possessing class A drugs with intent to supply at Portsmouth Crown Court. An order was made for the drugs destroyed.
PC Gary Morgan, from Waterlooville Priority Crime Team, said: ‘At the time Connelly was the major class A drugs supplier on Hayling Island. Hampshire Constabulary will not put up with transient dealers who think they can come to Hampshire as a soft touch and deal class A drugs.
‘This result shows the courts agree and it is reflected in the sentence that has been given.’
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Weather for Portsmouth
Friday 25 May 2012
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