Dealer helped flood Darlington with cocaine and heroin

Thomas Cleary was spotted in the Darlington several times, once alongside gang leader Kyle Nelson, before being arrested near South Park in the town when he was carrying three wraps of cocaine and heroin.

After he was bailed, the 28-year-old was overheard calling his mother and asking her to get Nelson to pick him up and take him back to Leeds.

Ian West, prosecuting, said the defendant didn’t play any further role in the gang’s enterprise to flood the region with drugs following his arrest at the end of May 2019.

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Cleary, of Naburn Road, Leeds, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A drugs heroin and cocaine between January and July 2019, and failure to surrender to custody.

Thomas Cleary (Image: Durham Constabulary)

Victoria Smith Swain, mitigating, said her client has been a heavy drug user since he was 16 when he started smoking cannabis.

She added: “He has an unenviable antecedent record, and alcohol and drugs has played a significant role in several of his offences. He has no previous convictions for supply and one conviction for simple possession.”

Judge Timothy Stead locked the defendant up for 35 months for his ‘limited’ involvement in the drug dealing enterprise.

He said: “In your case, although your activity was relatively brief, you were known to have been engaged in topping up credit on a mobile phone that was central to the conspiracy.

“Your record of offending, although unenviable, doesn’t reveal and inclination to drug trafficking.”

In November last year, Nelson was jailed for nine years in custody for his leading role in supplying high purity Class A drugs to dealers around the country.

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The 35-year-old, of Hardwick Close, Acomb, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply heroin and cocaine over an 11-month period in 2019.

The court heard how he rarely got his hands dirty touching the heroin and cocaine but played a pivotal role in moving it from Leeds into a wide range of towns including Darlington, Durham, Harrogate and Inverness.

He was at the centre of the drug network organising couriers and drop offs before he was arrested in Leeds.

About £40,000 worth of Class A drugs was recovered from a property connected to the defendant and his fingerprint was found on a rubber glove next to the drugs.