Drug dealer and runner jailed

Officers descended on Paul Hogarth’s Gateshead address in January 2023 where they uncovered a haul of Class A drugs, money and weapons.

The front door of the Seaton Gardens home had been reinforced with metal bars and parking bollards but they quickly gained entry.

The now 49-year-old immediately tried to evade capture and attempted to flush illicit items down the sink and exit through the property’s window.

He was swiftly arrested instead, with £2,000 worth of cocaine and heroin later seized, as well as £7,000 in cash and a knuckle duster.

Newcastle’s Serious Organised Crime Investigation Team had started to investigate Hogarth’s operation, with 36-year-old Natalie Garrett revealed as his distributor.

Extensive financial enquiries saw unemployed Hogarth pocket £83,000 from January 2021 to January 2023 – despite only receiving benefits totalling around £30,000.

Garrett was subsequently arrested after bank transactions and text messages linked her to Hogarth’s criminality.

The pair were later charged with a string of offences – including conspiracy to supply cocaine which they admitted.

On Monday (January 5), they appeared before Newcastle Crown Court where:

• Hogarth, of Waldridge Gardens in Gateshead, was jailed for seven years for conspiracy to supply cocaine, possession with intent to supply cocaine, heroin and MDMA, acquiring criminal property and possession of an offensive weapon.
  
  
• Garrett, of Waterloo Street in Newcastle, was jailed for three years and ten months for conspiracy to supply cocaine. She also received a three-year driving ban for separate driving offences including dangerous driving, as well as driving while disqualified and under the influence of drugs.

Speaking after the outcome, Police Constable Martin Telford of Northumbria Police, said: “This is a brilliant outcome – which has put an end to a significant street-level drugs operation in Gateshead and Newcastle.

“It goes without saying that illegal drugs of any kind can do irreversible damage in our communities, and especially those that are Class A and highly addictive.

“Thanks to the team’s tenacity to see Hogarth and Garrett before the courts – we were able to build a strong case against them and uncover the extent of their criminality with digital and financial evidence.

“I’m pleased to see they’re now behind bars for a lengthy spell and their joint offending can no longer cause any further harm in the region.”

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