HERE is a round-up of some of the cases heard concerning North and West Cumbria over the last week.

8-year jail sentence for Bailey Highton, 23 who peddled Class A drugs

A “TRUSTED lieutenant” who transported multi-million class A drug cargos across the UK and into north Cumbria has been jailed for almost eight years.

Bailey Highton’s key role in an illegal supply plot of staggering scale came to light after police mounted surveillance on a known Carlisle area organised crime group boss, Robert Smith, during 2022.

Officers seized cash and also heroin which had been adulterated to boost its quantity and sale value, along with hand blenders used to cut the drug. They had previously recovered a package on an area of land linked to Smith which bore Highton’s fingerprint.

Cocaine dealer caught red-handed stored drug in Kinder egg containers

COCAINE dealer whose drug use began aged just 14 told a probation officer when arrested and brought to court for supply crimes: “My addiction was a curse.”

And as 28-year-old Rory Bailey was punished for his offending, Recorder Julian Shaw became the latest Carlisle Crown Court judge to highlight the “untold misery” of substance misuse.

Bailey was caught red-handed while driving a Peugeot van seen by police close to Junction 41 of the M6 northbound at around 9pm on 21st July, 2022.

Young Carlisle man sold cocaine to fund his £100 a day habit

A SUSPENDED jail term has been handed to a young Carlisle man who sold cocaine to fund his £100-per-day drugs habit.

Tom Kendall, who was 19 when he began supplying the Class A drug to people he knew, was caught after police raided his bedroom in the home where he lives with his father.

Now aged 22, he admitted possessing the drug with intent to supply, as well as a single count of possessing the class B drug cannabis.

Whitehaven man had child abuse images of victims as young as four

A YOUNG west Cumbrian man has been put on the Sex Offender Register after he downloaded images of children as young as four being sexually abused.

Cameron Hodgson, 21, who committed the offences when he was 19, admitted downloading 24 indecent child images, including 10 which were classified as Category A, the most serious kind.

The defendant, of Windermere Road, Whitehaven, was sentenced at Carlisle Crown Court.