Sussex drug dealing gang jailed for 15 years (From The Argus)

Sussex drug dealing gang jailed for 15 years

1:10pm Wednesday 24th October 2012 in News By Anna Roberts, Crime reporter

A drug dealing gang who plagued Sussex have been locked up for more than 15 years in total.

The group of seven, including three teenagers, supplied drugs including heroin, crack cocaine and cocaine to addicts.

Last night police warned they would hunt down dealers who tried to ply their trade in the county.

Officers from across West Sussex were involved in a series of raids to smash the operation.

Aldo Oringa, Robert Warren, Matthew Shillibeer, Paul White, Stevie-Jane Johnson, Jerome Spencer and a 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were convicted of dealing crack cocaine and heroin.

Oringa, 27, of Ringmer Road, Worthing, was jailed for four years and eight months and Robert Warren, 41, of Tarrant Street, Arundel, was jailed for a year, suspended for 20 months.

Shillibeer, 18, of Linden Road, Bognor, and a 17-year-old from Worthing were given 20-month detention and training orders.

White, 21, of Velyn Avenue, Chichester, was jailed for two years while Johnson, 25, of Greenfields, Littlehampton, was jailed for three years and six months and had £1,041 confiscated.

Spencer, 18, of Blackheath Rise, South East London, was given a 20-month detention and training order and had £2,335.73 cash confiscated.

Chief Insp Jane Derrick said: “If you choose to make life a misery for those who you are dealing to then we will catch up with you.

“We will use every available opportunity to target you and to make your life as uncomfortable as possible. If you deal drugs in this area you can expect to be arrested, prosecuted and ultimately imprisoned.

“When people become addicted to drugs and in particular hard drugs the effects on those individuals is evident very quickly.

“People who become drug dependent will almost always have to turn to crime to fund their addiction and so the social impact is far-reaching.”