Drug dealer jailed after officers seize £2k in drugs

A man has been jailed for more than four years after we found more than £2,000-worth of heroin and monkey dust in Stoke-on-Trent.

Leon Sedgwick, 33, from Wigston, Leicestershire, was stopped by proactive officers on Covent Close in January 2022. We searched him and found a zip-bag containing heroin and monkey dust, worth £1,100, as well as 13 wraps of heroin, a mobile phone and £470 in cash.

We then searched an address in Stoke-on-Trent and found scales and more phones.

Then, in a separate incident in March 2023, we searched an address in Stoke-on-Trent. Sedgwick was inside when we found a bag containing heroin and monkey dust, worth more than £1,160, as well as cash and scales.

Sedgwick was arrested and charged with the offences.

He was sentenced at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court to four-and-a-half-years behind bars on Friday (19 January), after pleading guilty to possession with intent to supply heroin, possession with intent to supply class B drugs, being concerned in offering to supply heroin and being concerned in offering to supply class B drugs at an earlier hearing.

Sedgwick was also ordered to pay a surcharge of £190.

PC Ian Prendergast, who was the officer in case, said: “Sedgwick was intent on distributing harmful drugs within our communities. We’re pleased he’s been apprehended and we’ve been able to tackle another dealer in Staffordshire.

“Officers across the force are committed to proactively targeting drug supply and will continue to act on intelligence leads and reports from the public to bring these people to justice.”

The activity follows our ongoing commitment to tackling serious and organised crime and protecting those who are at risk of exploitation through criminals – called Operation Target.

Work is continuing to proactively target the groups responsible for these crimes – including county lines, drug distribution, illegal firearms and sexual exploitation.

To read more about the initiative, visit: Major operation to target serious organised crime launched | Staffordshire Police