THIRTEEN people arrested in a drugs crackdown in County Durham were yesterday (Friday, September 26) jailed for what a judge called "a blight in their communities".

Operation Orient was a blitz on heroin and amphetamine dealers in Bishop Auckland and nearby Shildon and Newton Aycliffe throughout last year.

Sixteen people have appeared in court over two days as details of the undercover operation - involving officers posing as addicts - were revealed.

Angela Hauxwell got the biggest sentence of three years as the gang members were locked up for a total of 22 years and two months yesterday.

The 36-year-old, of West Lane, Bishop Auckland, supplied the detectives with heroin on more occasions than anyone else, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Harry Hadfield said she turned up at meetings on seven occasions, and removed packages - usually £10 wraps - from her underwear.

Michael Yorke who refused to come from his cell at Durham Prison to be sentenced, and Andrew Hood were said to be organisers of the street dealers.

Yorke, 51, of St Johns Walk, Bishop Auckland, got 28 months, and Hood, 44, whose address was given as Holme House Prison, Stockton, was jailed for 32 months.

The others in the Bishop Auckland group were: Stephen Garnett, of Lime Terrace, Richard Thompson, of no fixed abode, Andrew Ballan, of Wensleydale Street, and Mark Wright, of Princes Street.

Garnett, 33, was given 27 months for supplying and offering to supply heroin, and had a week added to his sentence for turning up late after lunch.

He arrived out of breath, and told Judge Simon Bourne-Arton, QC: "I only went around the corner for a quick bite to eat. I got back as quick as I could."

Thompson, 33, got 27 months for supplying diazepam and heroin; Ballan, 31, got 20 months for handing over heroin; and Wright was given 18 months for one heroin supply.

In Shildon, Lesley Coglan, 49, of Primitive Street, made 12 supplies of heroin and amphetamine, and was jailed locked up for two years and four months.

Brett Robinson, 27, of Wesley Crescent, got 20 months for twice handing over heroin; and Simon Clark, 31, of Jubilee Road, got two years for four heroin supplies.

Janette Norman, 54, of Burnie Gardens, was given a six-month community order with curfew for supplying or offering to supply amphetamine.

Vivien Dent, 56, of Hackworth Road, received a two-year prison sentence, suspended for two years, for being concerned in the supply of heroin.

In Newton Aycliffe, Liam Dooney, 36, of Callerton Rise, got 20 months for supplying and offering to heroin; while Clinton Ross, 32, of Silverdale Place, got 18 months for one supply.

Nikki Ross, 27, of Yarm Road, Darlington, was jailed for 16 months for supplying Class C diazepam and offering to supply heroin on two occasions.

Teresa Dinsley, 26, of Langdale Place, supplied and offered to supply amphetamine , and was given an 18-week jail sentence, suspended for 18 months.

Defence lawyers said the dealers were ashamed and sorry for what they had done, and some told Judge Bourne-Arton that the case was close to entrapment.

The judge said: "Those who take part in the supply of controlled drugs are, in many ways, a blight on society. Residential areas, in particular in small communities, have to experience that dealing on the streets.

"It is not just those who are immediately concerned that are affected. The innocent passer-by, children and law-abiding citizens who see this activity affected and offended by it."