Drug dealer jailed for six years

Apr 25 2008 by Sam Wonfor, The Journal

A DRUG pusher caught with a stash of cocaine in his locker at work was jailed yesterday for six years.

Paul Hildrew was already the subject of a suspended prison term for possessing cannabis with intent to supply when he was arrested in May last year.

Police found £1,000 in cash along with a dealer’s list of debtors when they searched his home in Aldershot Road in Sunderland, while 26.8 grammes of cocaine with a street value of just over £1,300 was found in his locker at work. Hildrew, 29, had denied possessing a Class A drug with intent to supply but was convicted by a jury after a trial earlier this month at Newcastle Crown Court.

He was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment and Judge Esmond Faulks activated the earlier 12-month suspended sentence to run consecutively.

Judge Faulks said he sentenced Hildrew on the basis put forward by the prosecution that he was a “small time dealer”.

Prosecutors will be seeking to confiscate £33,000 from Hildrew at a later hearing.