A MOTHER and son drug dealing team were taken off the streets when an undercover police officer bought heroin off the pair on five occasions.

Tracey Hay’s drug dealing past came back to haunt her as the Darlington dealer was jailed for five and a half years.

Her ‘lieutenant’ son, Gary Hull, pictured below, was working as a street dealer for his mother and was the one who brought the undercover officer into their web of heroin dealing.

The Northern Echo: Gary HullGary Hull

Teesside Crown Court heard how Hay had already been jailed on three occasions for drug dealing – she received 18 months in 2000; 45 months in 2004; and 39 months in 2010.

Her last conviction came after she acted as a “decoy” for known drug dealer by travelling with him to make deliveries, so his movements did not attract the attention of the police.

At her sentencing hearing a decade ago, Judge Brian Forster told her: “All people in the Darlington area must know the courts will deter people from supplying heroin.”

Fourteen people were arrested following Operation Mountcook – a six-month surveillance operation to find and stop heroin dealers.

However, Hay’s own drug habit resulted in her slipping back into the murky world of dealing, the court heard.

Martin Towers, who prosecuted the latest case, said Hull told the undercover officer that he got his drugs off his mother to sell on the streets and introduced him to her on the third occasion the officer scored drugs of them.

Judge Deborah Sherwin described her as the head of the family ‘enterprise’ which also included her drug-addicted former partner Rory Eyles.

Pictured below, the 48-year-old, of Havelock Street, Darlington, was the one who directed her son’s drug dealing and the court heard how he had refused to implicate his mother in the illegal drug scheme.

The Northern Echo: Tracey HayTracey Hay

The court heard that the drug deals took place in and around the Denes area of Darlington with a house on Harrison Terrace being used as a drugs-den and illicit transactions taking place in the rear alleys around the Salisbury Terrace and Widdowfield Street area.

Hull, known locally as Bull, had never been involved in drugs before but did have a record for shoplifting offences and even took part in on of the deals with the undercover officer on the same day he appeared in court and was fined for a shoplifting offence.

Sentencing Hay to 2,045 days in prison, the judge said Hay was the head of the family ‘enterprise’.

Hull’s barrister, Ismael Uddin, said his 31-year-old client only started criminal offences in 2017 and the majority of his crimes were for shoplifting before started taking drugs and ultimately peddling heroin.

Dealing with Hull, Judge Sherwin said: "You are Ms Hay's son and, on the evidence available to me, I'm quite satisfied that you acted as her lieutenant helping her whenever she needed help.

"You were doing this on her behalf."

Hull, of Cartmell Terrace, Darlington, was jailed for two years and four months.

Hay’s former partner, Eyles, 42, of Surtees Street, Darlington, was jailed for ten months for his minor role in the family enterprise.