Hartlepool drug user supplied crack cocaine and heroin to undercover officer in Cleveland Police sting

Anthony Whitelock, 35, bought drugs three times from addresses in Hartlepool for who he believed was a fellow user but was in fact an undercover policeman.

Teesside Crown Court heard the officer going by the name Danny was introduced to Whitelock after asking three men in Murray Street where he could buy some heroin.

They went to an address in the Furness Street area where the officer gave him £10 to buy the drugs and Whitelock told him to wait outside while he did the deal.

Jonathan Gittins, prosecuting, said: “The defendant handed over a blue plastic bag containing a powdered substance which later tested to be 308 miligrammes of diamorphine.”

The undercover officer told Whitelock he was interested in buying some crack cocaine and the two exchanged mobile numbers.

They met up the next day when Whitelock completed another £10 heroin deal.

The following day he supplied ‘Danny’ with 70 miligrammes of crack cocaine worth £20 after going to an address in Burbank Street.

Whitelock admitted three counts of supplying a class A drug between October 30 and November 1 in 2019.

At the time he had 64 previous convictions on his record.

In January this year he was jailed for 12 months after breaking into a physiotherapy unit at North Tees hospital when he caused significant damage.

The judge then said he was in danger of becoming institutionalised.

Martin Scarborough, mitigating for the drug offences, said Whitelock pleaded guilty as soon as the case got to court.

He added his client had spent time in prison on remand which has been a much tougher regime because of the coronavirus pandemic when prisoners spend more time in their cells.

Whitelock, of Whitethorn Gardens, Hartlepool, was sentenced to 16 months in prison.

Judge Deborah Sherwin said: “Over a three day period you assisted in supplying an undercover police officer with heroin on two occasions and cracj cocaine on a third occasion.

"I accept that this is a case where a drug user effectively thought he was helping out another user to obtain a supply.”

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