A JUDGE criticised for not sending a drug dealer to prison was last night backed by a penal reform group.

Judge Guy Whitburn came under fire from anti-drugs campaigners and politicians for sparing Thomas Scarth, 19, from custody when he said jails were too full.

Middlesbrough Mayor Ray Mallon called for Judge Whitburn to consider his position and the teenager's MP, Vera Baird, described the suspended sentence as silly.

But the Howard League for Penal Reform last night defended the judge and said Scarth's punishment could prove to be the best in the long-term.

The group's director, Frances Crook, said: "Community sentences, in particular for young people, provide the best chance for them to turn their lives around and not commit further offences.

"Prison costs the taxpayer a fortune and can simply provide more opportunities for a person to go further into a life of crime."

Scarth, from Redcar, east Cleveland, was given a 12-month sentence, suspended for 18 months, and community penalties, including having to do unpaid work.

He admitted possessing Class A drugs with intent to supply after police found more than 80 wraps of heroin behind the bumper of his car.

A month before he was caught, Scarth was fined £100 at Teesside Magistrates' Court for possessing heroin.

As previously reported in The Northern Echo, Judge Whitburn last week told Scarth he would not send him to custody because the country's jails were full.

Ms Baird, a barrister, said people living in Redcar were flabbergasted by the sentence and said Scarth should have been locked up for between three and four years.

The teenager had spent 112 days in custody awaiting trial at Teesside Crown Court.

The Crown Prosecution Service is considering an appeal against the sentence.