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Citizen appeals for Blunkett to get tough on drug dealers

The Gloucester Citizen has published an open letter to Home Secretary David Blunkett, asking him to uphold a pledge to get tough on judges who give lenient sentences to drug dealers.

Earlier this year two convicted heroin dealers from the city walked free from court after being given two-year probation orders instead of a custodial sentence.

The deicison led to a public outcry.

But during an election campaign visit to Gloucester, Jack Straw promised that judges and magistrates who consistently handed out soft sentences to drug dealers would be “moved on”.

Now that he has taken up a new role in the Government, the Home Office has distanced itself from the comments, saying that he was speaking in a personal capacity and not representing Home Office policy.

The paper’s open letter asked Mr Blunkett to assure its readers that convicted heroin dealers would never again be allowed to walk free from court, and instead be given sentences that reflected the damage to people’s lives that they had caused.

Citizen editor Spencer Feeney, said: “We want David Blunkett to confirm that he will follow up Mr Straw’s words with action.

“If he does not intend to do so, we want him to explain to our readers why not.

“The public is fed up with drug dealers, who as Gloucester’s new MP says are having a “damaging effect” on our communities, getting away with light sentences.

“It’s not as if the judges hands are tied. The maximum sentence for dealing in heroin, cocaine or ecstasy is life imprisonment. How many dealers get life? The maximum sentence for dealing in cannabis or amphetamines is 14 years. Who gets that?”

  • The fight against Gloucester heroin dealers was boosted after a successful campaign by the Citizen. The city drug squad pledged to step up its action against dealing after the paper handed over a huge dossier of information about suspected dealers compiled from details passed on by its readers.

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