FOUR FAMILY MEN WERE HEROIN PUSHERS WHO DEALT IN D

FOUR FAMILY MEN WERE HEROIN PUSHERS WHO DEALT IN DEATH TO FEED
THEIR OWN HABIT, IT WAS ALLEGED.

AND SOME OF THEIR FORMER CUSTOMERS, ALSO HEROIN ADDICTS, WILL
BE GIVING EVIDENCE AGAINST THE MEN, AN OLD BAILEY JURY WERE TOLD.

MR STEPHEN MITCHELL, PROSECUTING, SAID THE MAJOR FIGURE WAS 33
YEAR OLD PETER FRENCH, OF BURFORD ROAD, BRENTFORD, MIDDLESEX.

HE SUPPLIED THE OTHER FOUR MEN WITH DRUGS WHICH HE BOUGHT FROM
A ‘MR BIG’ KNOWN AS SHABIR, THE COURT HEARD.

FRENCH SOLD HEROIN AT #1,000 PER OUNCE AND HIS TWO SAVINGS
ACCOUNTS HELD OVER #14,000 AT THE TIME OF HIS ARREST IN SEPTEMBER LAST
YEAR.

IN THE DOCK WITH FRENCH ARE 20 YEAR OLD MARK MANCINI, OF
DUNMOW CLOSE, HANWORTH, JAMES ALDER, 32, OF NEW ROAD, BRENTFORD, AND
WILLIAM HEPWORTH,32, OF BRACKENBURY GARDENS, WEST HAMMERSMITH.

ALL
FOUR ARE DESCRIBED AS UNEMPLOYED.

THEY DENY SUPPLYING HEROIN ON VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN JANUARY
AND SEPTEMBER 1985.

ALDER ALSO DENIES POSSESSION OF AMPHETAMINES, OR
‘SPEED’, ON THE DAY OF HIS ARREST, SEPTEMBER 17.

MR MITCHELL TOLD THE JURY: ‘EACH OF THESE MEN IS A HEROIN
SUPPLIER, BUT VAST AMOUNTS OF HEROIN WERE NOT RECOVERED – IN FACT,
VERY LITTLE INDEED WAS FOUND.

‘THE WORLD IN WHICH THE PUSHERS AND ADDICTS MOVE IS
ESSENTIALLY A TWILIGHT ONE.

ADDICTS ON WHOM A PUSHER PREYS DO NOT
QUEUE UP TO GIVE EVIDENCE AGAINST THE DEALERS.

‘ BUT HE ADDED THAT IN
THIS CASE THREE ADDICTS WOULD BE GIVING EVIDENCE.

SMALL AMOUNTS OF HEROIN WERE FOUND AT ALDER’S HOUSE ON HIS
ARREST.

HE CLAIMED HE RAN A ‘SAFE HOUSE’ FOR DRUGS ON BEHALF OF A
DEALER, BUT DENIED DEALING IN DRUGS HIMSELF.

MANCINI ALLEGEDLY CONFESSED TO POLICE THAT HE WAS INVOLVED IN
DRUGS DEALING WITH THE OTHER MEN – BUT SAID HE WAS TOO TERRIFIED OF
THEM TO TALK, SAID COUNSEL.

FRENCH ADMITTED A COSTLY HEROIN HABIT – #100 FOR A GRAMME PER
DAY.

HE ALSO ADMITTED RE-SELLING EACH OUNCE FOR #200 PROFIT, THE JURY WERE
TOLD.

THE TRIAL, WHICH IS EXPECTED TO LAST SEVERAL WEEKS, CONTINUES.

ENDS*