Tracey Hay and Clare Davison played “vital” roles in the plot, led by twice-convicted supplier Colin Noble and garage boss Marcus Moore

Tracey Hay and Clare Davison played “vital” roles in the plot, led by twice-convicted supplier Colin Noble and garage boss Marcus Moore, on the streets of Darlington. Hay was locked up for three years and three months, and Davison for 12 months after they admitted conspiracy to supply Class A drugs. Mother-of-three Davison, 34, allowed her home in Zetland Street to be used by Noble for cutting drugs after a previous den had been raided. Hay, 38, acted as a “decoy” for Noble by travelling with him to make deliveries, so his movements did not attract the attention of the police. Judge Brian Forster told the pair: “All people in the Darlington area must know the courts will deter people from supplying heroin.”
Fourteen people were arrested following Operation Mountcook – a sixmonth surveillance operation to find and stop heroin dealers. Seven of the suspects were charged, and last month, three of them received prison sentences totalling 14 years, while two were spared. Detective Constable Mick Trodden last night praised the sentences on Hay and Davison as a deterrent to others tempted to replace them. He said: “Anyone thinking of replacing these people now they have been locked up should look at the sentences and think again. They were a very active, well-organised group and filtered a lot of drugs into Darlington from elsewhere, predominantly Middlesbrough. “The ripple effect of the drugs problem is that addicts commit a lot of crime to fund their habits, and these sentences reflect the seriousness of that.”
Teesside Crown Court heard that police watched the movements of Noble, Moore and the dealers between January 14 and July 2 last year. Louise Reevell, mitigating, said heroin addict Hay, of Teal Road, was paid £20 a time for acting as Hay’s decoy during those months. Mrs Reevell said the mother-of-two had been hooked since the age of 20 following the cot death of her eightmonth- old daughter. David Lamb, for Davison, said she was not paid – other than in small amounts of heroin – for allowing Noble to use her home. He said the part-time cleaner never supplied anyone during the conspiracy, and has voluntarily sought help for her addiction since her arrest. The pair wept as Judge Forster jailed them and said: “The supply of heroin is a real problem in the Darlington area.”