Crack down on dealers

29 July 2003

On Wednesday 30 July 2003, Kensington and Chelsea Council are due to make legal history in the ongoing battle against crack cocaine. A prison sentence is expected for five notorious crack dealers guilty of breaching exclusion orders, banning them from a large part of the Borough. The orders, the first of this kind, provide a quick and flexible method of dealing with this difficult and persistent problem. Local authorities across the country will be monitoring the verdict closely and, if successful, are likely to follow suit.

Using section 222 of Local Government Act 1972, the council gained the unique exclusion orders banning the five from areas where they were known to trade. The five have already been proven guilty of breaching this order and are now charged with Contempt of Court, which can carry a sentence of up to five years. A prison sentence will send a very powerful message to drug dealers both locally and nationally and will set a useful precedent for this revolutionary new approach.

All legal activity has been sought through the civil courts, which allow the five's many previous convictions to be taken into account. Criminal courts cannot consider previous convictions and often hand out inappropriate monetary fines or short-term prison sentences.

Councillor Nicolas Paget-Brown, Cabinet Minister responsible for Community Safety said: "I hope to see the courts hand down a sentence worthy of the years of countless misery that these five have caused residents of the Royal Borough. "

Other legal measures, such as Anti Social Behaviour Orders (ASBO's) have proved ineffective in dealing with the sort of characteristics displayed by crack dealers. Both ASBO's and eviction orders require that the dealer's whereabouts be known so that orders can be served. Many dealers have no registered address and move frequently from one address to another.

Notes for Editors: Photographs of of the five are available on request.

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