First conviction following intensive police drugs operation in New Milton (From Daily Echo)

First conviction following intensive police drugs operation in New Milton

4:28pm Monday 6th September 2010 in

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THE first person to appear in court following a crackdown against drug dealers in a New Forest town was jailed for four and a half years.

Steven Parsons, 31, was detained after police launched Operation Mercury to stamp out drug-related crime on the streets in New Milton.

It ran from last November until May, leading to 16 arrests.

Prosecutor Siobhan Linsley outlined how Parsons had been operating from a flat in the town, selling heroin to undercover officers principally from his home and usually charging £20.

On one occasion, the cocaine and heroin abuser handed over two deals from a bag to one officer who noticed it contained more than 100 other deals.

Parsons of Old Milton Road, New Milton, admitted ten counts of supplying heroin and was jailed for four and a half years.

Passing sentence at Southampton Crown Court, Judge Gary Burrell QC told Parsons, who had previous drugs offending: “Heroin causes untold misery for those addicted to it. You are not a first time supplier.”

Asked if he had anything to say, Parsons, who chose not be represented by a barrister, replied: “I don’t think it makes any difference.”

Drug squad officers with 19 addresses on their hit list made co-ordinated dawn strikes in New Milton as well as Burley and Fawley. properties ranged from quiet housing estates to rooms in shared homes.

Before bleary-eyed suspects could react, they were handcuffed and taken to police stations for questioning.

The arrests were the culmination of an intensive operation, launched after police received tip-offs from local residents about escalating drug misuse in the community. Some 250 officers were involved in the raids, silently running from unmarked police vehicles and surrounding targets who had been identified as key players in heroin and crack cocaine dealing.