Middlesbrough man sold cigarettes to children as young as six

Brian Joseph Dixon arrived at Teesside Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday facing 10 separate charges for selling fake cigarettes and tobacco from his terraced house on Thorndyke Avenue, Grove Hill, Middlesbrough.

Four of the charges were for selling cigarettes to children which Middlesbrough Council said were as young as six.

Dressed in a grey hooded top and chequered shirt, 54-year-old Dixon pleaded guilty to all counts.

Brian Joseph Dixon outside Teesside Magistrates' Court. Picture: Ian Cooper / Teesside Live 

Catherine Cunningham, prosecuting for Middlesbrough Council, told the court that the case had been brought to the attention of the authorities after complaints were made to housing group, Thirteen.

Acting on the tip-off, Middlesbrough Council’s Trading Standards set up covert CCTV cameras to monitor Dixon’s front door.

Leafing through stills taken from the footage, chairman of the bench, Sally Ferard, said: “Just on a cursory look through it’s a lot of people isn’t it?”

Ms Cunningham said that over the course of four days in July last year, cameras had captured 95 suspected tobacco sales from Dixon’s front door – 14 of which were to children.

She then played the CCTV footage to the court.

“They’re quite young children aren’t they?” said Ms Ferard as shot after shot depicted young children – sometimes alone, sometimes in groups – making their way to Dixon’s door to be handed cigarettes.

Ms Cunningham said trading standards officers and Cleveland Police raided Dixon’s house on October 7.

“As a result, 15,980 cigarettes were seized as well as 258 pouches of illicit hand-rolling tobacco – a very high seizure for a residential premises,” she said.

Ms Cunningham said the large quantity of tobacco – which the council says was found hidden in kitchen cupboards, behind the kickboards of the kitchen units and in the microwave – represented “one of the biggest hoards ever from a domestic premises”.

She said the seized tobacco was sent for analysis and was found to be counterfeit adding that the packaging didn’t have the required health warnings and wasn’t in the required pantone colour.

She added that in interview Dixon had admitted selling cigarettes on and off from his home for about two years.

Neil Douglas, mitigating, said his client had been selling cigarettes only to people he knew in his community and that the sales to children were “repeat orders” for their parents.

“There was a steady trade to his door including children – all of whom he knew,” he said.

“He knew they were coming to his house for repeat orders – collections for their parents.

“That doesn’t make it right, but it does put it in some sort of context.

“Mr Dixon’s motive was financial. He was making a small amount of profit on each sale.

“He was tempted and seduced by the additional income the sales brought.

“I think it’s right to say and fair to say that Mr Dixon was in no way corrupting members of the public or seducing them into the use of tobacco.

“He provided an alternative outlet to the legitimate sales of the products at a cheaper rate.”

Mr Douglas added that Dixon had not sold the illegal tobacco to fund an addiction but had “fallen foul to greed in trying to earn some money” while believing he was doing so with the approval of his neighbours.

“The term ‘fag house’ entered the vocabulary some years ago,” said Mr Douglas.

“These sort of things might be unusual, but are not unique.

“He now knows that what he was doing was wrong. He is not a serious offender who is going to repeat these offences.”

Mr Douglas concluded saying that his client had no previous convictions for similar offences and was “not a man with a significant criminal background”.

Having retired for several minutes to consider sentencing, the bench returned and Dixon was told to stand.

“We have considered the matter very carefully,” said Ms Ferard.

She told Dixon that the custody threshold had been crossed and it was now up to the court to decide whether or not to send Dixon straight to prison.

“There is the high level of cigarettes – 16,000 almost – it was done in a domestic context, on and off for two years,” she said.

Ms Ferard added that the 14 sales to “young children” had put them at risk of harm and added that the number of visits to Dixon’s home meant he had become a “nuisance” to his neighbours.

“But we do accept that you’re a man of previous good character and that you weren’t doing it to fund a habit,” she said.

Dixon was given an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months. He was ordered to carry out 300 hours unpaid work and to pay a total of £3,596 in costs and charges.

“You do come very near to being sent straight down today,” Ms Ferard said.

Judith Hedgley, Middlesbrough Council’s head of public protection, said: “The surveillance we carried out on Mr Dixon showed regular sales of cigarettes to young children.

“There are strict laws to prevent children accessing cigarettes which are in place to protect their health.

“Mr Dixon was clearly flouting these for his own personal gain. Some of these children were purchasing cigarettes for others, this case should serve as a stark reminder to parents to ensure sure that their children are not put at risk in this way.”

Cllr Dorothy Davison, executive member for adult services and health, said: “Officers from the Public Protection Service work hard to protect our communities from the harms caused by illicit tobacco and in particular we aim to protect the most vulnerable, such as children.

“This case and the sentence which Mr Dixon has received should be a strong warning not to sell illicit tobacco and a message to the public not to buy.”