JAMAICAN crack-cocaine dealers arrested during a North-East drugs raid are to be sent home after serving lengthy jail terms.

Deportation notices have been served on the five illegal immigrants who Judge Peter Bowers told: "The sooner this country is rid of you the better.''

Garfield Hinds, 25, Steve Ellis, 28, Oral Williams, 34, Tasheka Bramwell, 20, and Tanisha Henry, 21, all of London, were charged with conspiracy to supply a class A drug.

Robert Terry, prosecuting at Teesside Crown Court, told how police raided a house in Acton Street, Middlesbrough, where Williams tried to prevent them from gaining entry.

A search uncovered ten and a half grams of crack cocaine in cellophane wraps, along with cash in sterling, dollars and Jamaican dollars.

When interviewed, the five, who had only been in Middlesbrough for 24 hours when they were arrested, all gave "implausible reasons" for their presence in the town.

A court order was granted for the destruction of the drugs and for the money seized to be given to the police to be used in the fight against drugs.

Barristers defending the five said all bitterly regretted what they had done.

Judge Bowers sentencing each of the three men to four- and-a-half years in prison, and the women to two-and-a-half years, told them they could have faced longer sentences.