Jail for Darley Dale man over class A drugs

Alex Braund, of School Close, Darley Dale, was sentenced to three years in prison at Derby Crown Court on Friday after he pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing class A drugs with intent to supply and one count of possessing a class B drug.

As part of a police operation to crackdown on drugs in the area, officers swooped on the property in School Close on September 18. On the same day they raided a property in Lime Grove Walk, Matlock.

Inspector Richard Booth, who is in charge of policing in the Dales, said: “It’s a good result for the community because people that are dealing the drugs are the ones that we need to target and that’s something we will continue to do.”

This is the third conviction for drug dealing to come out of Darley Dale in recent months – with 22–year–old Nathan Mather, of Lime Grove, sent to prison in June, and Neil Ogden, 45, of Oker Avenue, convicted this month. None of these cases are believed to be connected to each other.

Insp Booth explained that the arrest of Ogden, as part of a £1.9 million drugs gang featuring three other Dales men, was an isolated incident and the result of months of investigation.

He added that the arrests of Mather and Braund came about as a result of the force acting upon intelligence received, commenting: “I don’t want people to think there’s a massive problem in the Dales.

“We have a small number of people dealing drugs.”