Three Berwick heroin dealers win sentence cuts
Jul 2 2009 by Ben Guy, The Journal
THREE Berwick heroin street dealers – jailed after an undercover police swoop in the town – all won cuts in their jail terms yesterday after a top judge ruled they should have been given more credit for owning up.
James William Darling, of Middle Street, Spittal; Stuart Robert Weatherston, of Eastcliff, Spittal and Martin David Punton, of Seaview, Highfields, were all caught red-handed after selling the class A drugs to undercover police officers.
The officers infiltrated the town’s drug circuit as part of a year-long undercover operation during 2008, named Operation Blowtorch, posing as traders with clothes to sell.
At Newcastle Crown Court in September last year Darling, 40, admitted supplying heroin and possessing cannabis and was sentenced to a total of five years behind bars.
Weatherston, 34, admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin and possessing cannabis and was jailed for a total of four and a half years.
Punton, also 34, was jailed for a total of five years after admitting two counts of supplying heroin at the same court hearing.
