A drug dealer-turned-supergrass who supplied 5,000

A drug dealer-turned-supergrass who supplied 5,000 ecstasy tablets to undercover police was today (FRI) allowed to walk free from the Old Bailey.

Jason Proctor, 32, was given a sentence which will mean his immediate release after the court heard his life is at risk after he blew the whistle on police corruption.

He took pnds stlg 10,000 from the undercover officers and handed over the disco drugs in meeting outside a railway station.

Within seconds, detectives swooped and Proctor was arrested.

But he then stunned police by claiming corrupt cops had stolen drugs from him in an earlier raid.

Proctor’s allegations were to lead to a massive police investigation by fraud busters CIB3 and a two month trial.

Proctor named Detective Sergeant Leonard Guerard and Detective Constables Chris Carter and Vincent Arneil as the officers involved.

But after Geurard, 52, and Carter, 47, were cleared of plotting to burgle and supply drugs, and walked free from court yesterday, Proctor was today locked up.

Judge Ann Goddard, QC, told him: ‘Two things must be clearly understood.

‘First of all this is a totally exceptional case.

Secondly, nothing I say should be seen as undermining the jury’s verdict.

‘The sentence I am going to pass is totally exceptional and is not the normal sentence imposed on those who deal in Class A drugs.

‘

The judge accepted the evidence of Detective Chief Inspector Ian Buttivant who told her: ‘I believe there is a significant threat against Mr Proctor as a result of the evidence he has given to this court.

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The Old Bailey heard how Proctor started dealing ecstasy on a small time basis to taxi drivers and other staff at Chiswick Cars in west London.

In November 1998, he arranged to sell a kilogram of cocaine for pnds stlg 27,570 to a pal who later turned out to be a police informant setting him up.

The man – named as Spencer Hann – arrived with an undercover officer for a meeting with Proctor at the Hilton Hotel in Holland Park, and the deal was discussed.

Numerous phone calls followed, and at one stage Proctor told Hann he was suspicious that the police were involved.

Hann reassured him the deal was sound, but Proctor then pulled out because he wanted to see the money upfront.

Weeks later, he contacted Hann again and spoke about a possible ecstasy deal – claiming he could supply 10,000 pills for pnds stlg 2 each.

But after handing over 5,000 tablets at a meeting outside Putney railway station on December 12, 1998, Proctor was arrested.

When he was interviewed, he made an extraordinary allegation that in September 1995 he had supplied an ounce of cocaine to Arneil, 38.

Proctor claimed he also arranged to sell the cop 40,000 ecstasy tablets, but on October 11, 1995, Geurard and Carter turned up and took the drugs.

Although those two were yesterday cleared of the allegations, the court heard that the Crown’s case is they were involved.

Prosecutor Orlando Pownall said: ‘There was a delivery of drugs, Proctor was expecting to supply the tablets to Arneil and make up to pnds stlg 10,000, and these officers took those drugs.

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The court heard that although it was estimated that pnds stlg 235,840 was made by Proctor’s drug dealing, he has no realisable assets.

Defending Proctor, William Clegg, QC, said: ‘His cooperation with the police has placed him in the same category as a supergrass.

‘He has, as a result of his co-operation with the police, exposed corruption within the police force which is perhaps the gravest danger to the administration of justice.

‘This man has placed himself and he believes his family in real danger as a result of his co-operation with the authorities.

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Proctor, whose address was not released to the court had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply drugs including cocaine, ecstasy, and cannabis.

The jury was later discharged from reaching a verdict in relation to Arneil, over the alleged 40,000 ecstasy rip-off, after more than 20 hours of deliberation.

Arneil, of (9) Hawthorne Close, Aultone Way, Sutton, Surrey, had denied conspiracy to burgle, conspiracy to supply ecstasy, and conspiracy to supply a controlled drug of class B, namely cannabis, between April 1, 1995 and September 30, 1995.

But unusually, Mr Pownall immediately announced that the musician and stand-up comedian, faces no retrial and thus he was allowed his freedom.

Giving evidence he had maintained that a gang of criminals, including former cop Duncan Hanrahan, forced him to order the 40,000 ecstasy tablets from Proctor at gunpoint.

ends