THE wheelchair-bound boss of a drugs gang has been jailed for seven years for selling crack cocaine and heroin from his home.

Polio victim John Mitzi shared the house, in the centre of Middlesbrough, with his brother.

Dan Cordey, prosecuting at Teesside Crown Court yesterday, said police, who raided the house in Haddon Street four times in a year, also seized hunting knives, crowbars and wooden clubs studded with nails, Judge Michael Taylor told Mitzi, 42, who arrived on a disability scooter, that he would pose a problem for prison staff.

Some of the drugs were found in a fish tank.

The judge said John Mitzi had played on his disability during his trial, but that he was plainly the leader of the drugs gang.

David Lamb, defending, said John Mitzi had carers at home, and that his time in prison would be harder than for a fit man.

Rod Hunt, defending Christopher Mitzi, 41, said his client had been bullied while on remand and was likely to continue to be picked on.

The Mitzis, both of Roscoe Street, Middlesbrough, were found guilty of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs from their former home.

John Mitzi was jailed for seven years, and his brother for four-and-a-half years.

Henchman Gerald Dunion, of Barmouth Road, Middlesbrough, was jailed for six years for the drugs conspiracy.

Andrew Gibson, 25, of Garden Place, Normanby, Middlesbrough, and Richard Carlyon, 62, of Brimham Court, Redcar, were each jailed for 12 months after they were convicted of conspiracy to supply heroin.

Adrian Dent defending Dunion, said he was an addict and that his offending probably came from his association with the Mitzis.

Peter Johnson, defending Carlyon, said his client had served in the Army for 15 years and he had a relatively good character.

Duncan McReddie, defending Gibson, said his client had turned his life around in the past three years since his involvement with the conspiracy.

The judge said that he had no doubt that Dunion was John Mitzi’s right-hand man and that his sentences on the Mitzis were less than they might have been to reflect their problems.