Arriving at the street where Brian Dixon was caught selling cigarettes to children as young as six, you can’t help but notice the CCTV.

Perched on top of a mast towering above the rooftops of largely terraced houses, a caged security camera systematically scans the street below.

This permanent eye in the sky could seem like something out of George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984 – in which society is put under constant surveillance from a totalitarian state.

But while many Thorndyke residents don’t want to talk to a reporter, those that do say they see the benefit of the CCTV intrusion.

And with the stark contrast between boarded-up houses on one terrace and homes with well-kept gardens and smart outdoor furniture on the next, it’s easy to see why some residents would support the intervention.

“The CCTV is down to the council,” said one Thorndyke resident. “They’ve got to do something and, to be honest with you, since the cameras have been in the area, it’s quietened down a hell of a lot.

“The camera is doing it’s job.”

It was due to CCTV footage that Brian Joseph Dixon was caught selling knock-off cigarettes to children as young as six.

He had been shopped by residents concerned about the wide range and number of people knocking on his door.

Over the course of four days in July, cameras set up by trading standards officers from Middlesbrough Council recorded 95 suspected tobacco sales from Dixon’s front door – 14 of which were to children.

At Teesside Magistrates’ Court, the 54-year-old was last week given an eight-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months after he admitted 10 charges for selling fake cigarettes and tobacco.

Four of the charges were for selling cigarettes to underage children – the youngest aged six.

In court Dixon’s solicitor said his client had only sold cigarettes to people he knew in his community and that the sales to children were “repeat orders” for their parents.

He added that Dixon felt he was selling the knock-off cigs in the belief that he was doing so with the approval of his neighbours.

And speaking to residents, he may not be wrong.

“I can’t see Brian selling them to children,” said one Thorndyke resident. “He would have known they were for their mams and dads and I know that’s not the way the police see it.

“But I know him, and I know he wouldn’t have been actually selling them thinking they were for the kids.”

As we head back to the car, the CCTV camera settles on us for a few seconds.

But then it moves on to the next angle and continues its relentless and regimented, clockwise sweep of Thorndyke Avenue.