Linton Steele had an £80-a-day crack habit when he was selling the drugs on the streets of Middlesbrough.

Linton Steele, 28, began using drugs after his father and a cousin were shot dead in crime-capital Kingston, Teesside Crown Court was told.
He had an £80-a-day crack habit when he was selling the drugs on the streets of Middlesbrough.Then as recently as July 21 his younger brother was gunned down in Kingston while Steele was on remand on drugs charges in Holme House Prison, Stockton.
Steele had been arrested on a Kingston flight which landed at Gatwick in May after he was identified in an undercover police crackdown in 2006 code named Operation Drayton.He had been deported to Jamaica for immigration offences. He had married an English woman living in London and the couple had four children. He returned to the UK on a spouse's visa but police were notified.Steele first came to the UK in 2002 where he remained until he was refused permission to stay in May last year.His lawyer Peter Wishlade told the court: “The reason he was in Middlesbrough was that he was going through a particularly rocky spell with his wife, and he stayed with a friend for two months.“He had to feed his own addiction of £80 a day and he sold drugs on behalf of others.“He has freed himself of drug addiction now. The only reason he became involved in drugs was the shooting of his father and his cousin, and he found that drugs provided some solace.”
Mr Wishlade told the judge: “I think that you are probably aware that Kingston, Jamaica, is not the easiest place to live.“He does seem to me to be a very pleasant and very respectable man.”Prosecutor Simon Reevell said that Steele unwittingly supplied crack cocaine to an undercover officer in central Middlesbrough for up to £40 a rock.Steele delivered the drugs after the officer rang two dealers on their mobile phones.The Recorder of Middlesbrough Judge Peter Fox QC told Steele: “I accept everything that has been said and written on your behalf.
“But you know that cocaine is an evil thing and you were bound up with others in Middlesbrough in its distribution.”Steele, of Waterloo Road, Middlesbrough, was jailed for three years after he pleaded guilty to eight charges of supplying a Class A drug in March and April 2006.

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