KIDS as young as ten have been dealing drugs while riding bicycles around a British town riddled with substance abuse.
In the Teesside town of Middlesbrough, fed-up residents say they know of dealers “on every street” and even hospital wards are used to trade cocaine, heroin and meth.
Fed-up residents in Middlesbrough say they know of dealers ‘on every street’NNP
Even hospital wards are used to trade cocaine, heroin and methNNP
Cleveland Police has the third highest rate of drug offences in the country, at 4.1 per 1,000 people, with only Merseyside and the Met having higher rates.
And the stark reality of life in the poverty-stricken zone emerged as residents told of houses being fire-bombed in drug-related reprisal attacks.
In the suburb of Hemlington, locals were genuinely scared to speak out about drug gangs causing carnage in their community.
They told The Sun how the community library was often used as a hub for dealing class A wares.
Joyce Barker, 58, said she had seen children as young as 10 using bikes to deliver drugs.
She said: “Every week there’s a car that comes onto the estate – a big, posh car – and there’s a huddle of kids who gather around it.
“They get the supplies doled out to them and then they go off delivering around the estate.
“I’m looking at them thinking ‘you’ve not got a hair on your face’.
“They’re so young. They should be in school, instead they’re dealing drugs.
“But I don’t blame the kids. They’re seeing the posh car, the clothes, the watches and they want the same.
“It’s the adults who know better. Deal your drugs, fine – that’s your choice. But getting kids to do your dirty work. That’s cowardly.”
A police operation in Hemlington last year saw thousands of pounds worth of drugs seized and weapons recovered.
But locals say drugs continue to blight the estate.
One pensioner told how he lived two doors away from a drug dealer.
Too fearful to be named, he said: “There’s a drug dealer on every street around here. Everyone knows who they are but nothing ever seems to stop them.
“We’ve got bungalows that have been set alight and boarded up because there’s been a dispute or someone wants to mark their territory.
“Hemlington used to be a nice place to live. But it’s just getting worse and worse.
“I’ve never known it as bad as it is right now. The place is just lawless and you never see a policeman.”
Social worker Bethany White, 28, added: “People in power need to come and live here and experience what’s going on.
“There’s no community policing and so we’ve got a generation of kids who are growing up and won’t acknowledge that the police are there to help.”
The prevalence of drugs is so bad in Middlesbrough that doctors warned in September that dealers are brazenly selling drugs on hospital wards.
Police meanwhile said brazen drug leaders spray numbers on walls to advertise which house they are selling from.
Vascular surgeon Barney Green said: “What we’re seeing is one admitted every 1.4 days. This is really related to the drugs trade and illicit crime.
Paul Harris is among locals fighting back to stamp out the blight of drugsNNP
Residents also told of houses being fire-bombedNNP
“Drug dealers are coming to wards as well, onto hospital property to deliver drugs.
“We don’t want our 12, 13, 14-year-old children to be influenced by people involved in drugs.
“I would make a plea to everyone who lives in our region to say we really need to work hard against this.
“It’s not just the police’s role to try and stamp out drugs. It’s all of ours.”
Paul Harris, 48, who lives in Middlesbrough’s tough Grove Hill estate, is among locals fighting back to stamp out the blight of drugs.
He and pal David Leopard were inspired to launch the YouCan project after seeing children as young as ten selling drugs.
The real-life Byker Grove lays on activity sessions for kids to help stop them from falling into the clutches of gangs.
Mr Harris, who launched the centre after his own experiences of being involved in drugs, said: “I’m 49 in March and I’m looking at all these kids who are living the same lifestyle as I was.
“It’s not going to do them any good. They’re not going to see their 30s or 40s in my eyes.
“There are a lot of kids who have nothing to do and it’s just leading them down the wrong path.”
Mr Harris added: “For the kids now, it’s easier to get drugs than ever because they’re all the same price.
“£10 to a kid isn’t much but they can get something very dangerous for that.
“Every single person here knows someone who has lost someone to suicide or drugs.
“I’m no angel, I’ve been in amongst it all myself. I’d rather see the kids and say to them go down this path instead.
“It’s not going to change unless something is done. I don’t think the system has got a clue about what is going on.
“They’ve lost full contact with the real world to me. They haven’t got a clue.”
He said: “I’ve lived here all my life. I’m not going to stand back and watch it. I don’t want to.”
But Mr Harris, who said young kids on the estate know more than their teachers about drugs, refused to condemn the dealers plying the trade on his streets.
He said: “I’m not going to point fingers at dealers because life is that hard.
“They will sell drugs because they believe it will help make their families’ lives better. It’s temptation, isn’t it?
“I’ve got mates who are dealers. It’s their choice – it’s up to them what they do.
“I’m not going to say ‘you sell drugs, I’m not your friend’. I am going to say ‘you sell drugs, it’s up to you’. But consequences and karma is a b*****d.”
Paul Leopard, 20, a youth leader at Jellystone Park, said some children looked up to drug dealers as “role models”.
Paul Leopard said some children looked up to drug dealers as ‘role models’NNP
Leah Fearon told how dealers ‘bully’ and ‘intimidate’ childrenNNP
And he told how it is more unusual for young adults to not take drugs.
He said: “When I was in school, I think the youngest people I saw doing drugs my age might have been in Year 9 and year 10.
“People were on all sorts of class A drugs, aged 14 of 15. It’s who you know.
“Everyone on every estate knows who the drug dealer is. It’s not hard to get hold of.
“You just find someone who works for them, or works with them. Or your mates can get hold of them.”
He told how kids were paid on the “cheap” to deliver drugs around the estate, adding: “They’ll do anything for money. It’s freezing. I’m out on the streets, get me a bike and I’ll be alright.”
He added: “Ninety percent of people smoke cannabis. It’s not invisible.
“Most of the population is on cocaine. It’s more rare not to be on it.
“If I go out now with my partner or my friends, people are like ‘do you do this?, ‘do you want this?’ and I say ‘no I’m okay’.
“You don’t see as many people who aren’t on it than who are on it.”
Up to sixty kids aged from five to 17 attend YouCan where they do art crafts and play computer games, instead of loitering on the streets.
Older children and teens are supported with guidance into jobs, with a number being helped onto local apprenticeships.
Leah Fearon, 37, who attends with daughter, six, told how dealers “bully” and “intimidate” children into working for them for £5-a-delivery.
She said: “The police wouldn’t look at a child. So basically it works in the [dealer’s] favour, not the child’s.
“They don’t have a clue. They just think ‘oh I’m getting £5 to go to the shop’.
“It won’t be just a one-a-day thing. You could be out five times a day. You could make £25 which is a lot to a child.
“They don’t see any wrong because they’re being told by adults ‘you’re only kids, nothing will happen to you’. And kids believe adults, especially the wrong ones.
“They also look at the best clothes and I think ‘I want that’ and that’s how it starts.”
Donna Peacock, 47, said ordinary people in Middlesbrough were fed-up with the extent of drugs plaguing the streets.
She said: “You can’t let the kids play out on the streets. You don’t know what’s going to go on.
“There’s drugs going on every corner that you turn on to. I’ve literally just watched one.
“You’ll see certain cars drive on to the estate, dealing. My son’s got to look out of his bedroom window watching this stuff going on.
“It’s all hours of the day. It doesn’t matter what time of day it is.
“We know it’s happening, the police know it’s happening. But they don’t do anything about it.
“They should be patrolling the streets and put the heebie-jeebies up them.”
Donna Peacock said ordinary people in Middlesbrough were fed-upNNP
Children as young as 10 brazenly deal on the streetsNNP Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
