Former Hartlepool drug user spared jail for heroin and cocaine deals to undercover policeman

Stuart Armstrong, 36, had earlier pleaded guilty to four counts of supplying Class A drugs relating to heroin and cocaine.

He was arrested over deals to an undercover officer during a Cleveland Police sting called Operation Neapolitan in 2019.

It targeted Class A drug dealing in Hartlepool by using undercover officers to carry out test purchases.

Teesside Crown Court previously heard that Armstrong was responsible for a £10 heroin deal supplied to the officer on November 19, 2019.

He provided the policeman and two other drug users with similar deals the next day.

Armstrong also helped the undercover officer get crack cocaine from a Hartlepool address on November 27.

The judge deferred passing sentence last October to give him the chance to stay out of trouble after giving a co-accused a suspended sentence.

On returning to court this week, the court heard Armstrong was making good progress to beat a long-standing heroin habit.

The Recorder of Middlesbrough, Judge Paul Watson, said: “I’m pleased to read in the pre-sentence report that you have kept away from those people with whom you were associating beforehand.

"You are taking real steps, real positive steps to deal with your heroin habit.”

Judge Watson told him a prison sentence could not be avoided for dealing in Class A drugs but that he would suspend it.

Armstrong, of Helmsley Street, Hartlepool, was given 21 months suspended for two years, coupled with probation including a 12-month drug rehabilitation requirement.

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