AN ELEVENTH member of a gang which peddled heroin in Chester-le-Street has joined his counterparts behind bars.

Carlo Fella, 28, of No Place, near Stanley, was jailed for four-and-a-half years at Durham Crown Court for taking part in the supply of the class A drug in Chester-le-Street over at least five months.

It brought the total sentences imposed as a result of a long-running police inquiry, Operation Cassidy, to more than 50 years.

The investigation was launched following five heroin-related deaths in the town in recent years.

An undercover officer, who took the name Ged, posed as a heroin addict to obtain supply from a number of dealers in the town between December 1999 and June last year.

The court was told Fella admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin, on the basis that he helped Ged to obtain the drug on five dates between December 1999 and April last year.

Stephen Duffield, prosecuting, said: "If drugs were required Fella was the man to be telephoned and then they would be supplied."

Mr Duffield said on his arrest after a series of police raids in June last year, £3,915 in Irish pound notes, 'for which there was no satisfactory explanation,' were recovered from Fella. His Citroen car was also seized.

Peter Schofield, mitigating, said Fella was merely holding the money on someone else's behalf, although he conceded it was the profit of drug dealing.

He said Fella's involvement stemmed from his own heroin habit, which dated back to the early Nineties.

Mr Schofield said: "It's his case that he was recruited and used by someone not before the court to assist in this enterprise.

"Clearly in Chester-le-Street there were a number of people involved in the drug scene. He accepts, because of his range of acquaintances in the drug scene, he was an attractive source of information to obtain drugs."

Jailing Fella, the Recorder of Newcastle, David Hodson, said: "If anyone needs persuading that soft drugs lead to hard drugs and hard drugs, in turn, lead to more serious crime, they only need to look at your record.