TEN people appeared in court yesterday charged with conspiracy to supply Class A drugs following early-morning raids in Darlington.

Paul Wilson, 25, of Willow Road, Rodger Bowers, 26, of Kexwith Moor Close, and Alister Douglas, 32, of Duke Street, all Darlington, were accused of carrying out the offences between March 25, last year and June 9, this year.

John Nicholson, 37, of Estoril Road South, Mark Paul Starkey, 32, of Ivy House, Matthew Pybus, 26, of Oxford Street, Anthony Hall, 39, of Wigham Road, and Darren Paul Sheen, 25, of Haughton Road, all Darlington, were accused of carrying out the offences between May 24, last year and June 6, this year.

Shaun Robson, 29, of Inglewood Close, Darlington, was charged with two counts of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and selling or transferring a shotgun to a person other than a registered firearms dealer.

No pleas were taken and all were remanded in custody, at North Durham Magistrates' Court, in Peterlee, east Durham.

Clair Neary, 25, was charged with conspiracy to supply Class A drugs between May 24, last year and June 9, this year.

She did not enter a plea and was granted bail on condition that she lives at an approved bail hostel, the address of which was not read out.

The ten will appear at Durham Crown Court for a plea-and-directions hearing on Wednesday.