Duo sentenced for dealing heroin and crack for 'Bill & Ben' drugs line in Blackpool

Robert Armstrong, of Chislehurst Avenue, and Laura Wallis, of Derby Road, appeared at Preston Crown Court.

Recorder Emma Fisher jailed Armstrong for 45 months for being concerned in the supply of heroin and cocaine.

Wallis was sentenced to 21 months, suspended for two years, for possessing drugs and being concerned in the supply of heroin and cocaine. Both had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing.

The court heard that police on duty in Dickson Road, Blackpool, saw a group of people loitering at a junction.

Wallis, aged 33, came out of a building and when she saw the officers changed direction.

She was stopped nearby, and was found to have a mobile phone, five wraps of heroin and 30 wraps of crack cocaine.

A few days later Armstrong, also 33, was arrested at an address in the resort and found to have two mobile phones, drugs and £2,400 in cash. Examination of the phones, and the phone found on Wallis, revealed messages linked to the "Bill and Ben" drugs line.

There was evidence of block messages being sent to 88 different contacts.

Counsel for Wallis said she played a lesser role in the offences, and had done so as a result of her addiction to drugs.

Since on remand she had made good progress toward being rehabilitated and now planned to be a drugs worker when released.

Counsel for Armstrong said he had been under pressure to deal drugs for the "Bill and Ben" line. The money he was found with was due to be handed on to someone else higher up the chain.

Recorder Miss Fisher said she accepted that Wallis played a lesser role than Armstrong. She felt that given her previous minor convictions and the progress she had made on remand, she could suspend the sentence.

She said Armstrong played a "significant role" in the drugs line and an immediate custodial sentence was inevitable.