A MORECAMBE mother of six and three local men have been given jail sentences totalling nearly 20 years after dealing in drugs.

They were brought to justice as a result of an undercover operation named Herring. A policeman was set up in a Morecambe flat and was able to record conversations over proposed drug deals.

Two of the defendants appearing at Preston Crown court were given six year terms. They were: Keith Atkinson, 31, of Willow Lane, Lancaster and Darren O'Conner, 35, of Olive Road Lancaster. Atkinson had admitted to five charges of drug supplying while O'Conner admitted two of supplying and two of offering to supply.

The other two in the dock were: mother-of-six Bernadette Dotters, 38, of Green Street, Bare, Morecambe who received four and a half years and Timothy MacPherson, 25, of Granville road, Lancaster who was given three years.

She had admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin and possession with the intent to supply. Macpherson had pleaded guilty to two offences of offering to supply drugs.

The court heard that an undercover officer called Billy set himself up in a Morecambe flat. Atkinson was involved in the sale of heroin in the Lancaster and Morecambe area. He agreed to supply Billy initially with an ounce and later with bigger quantities.

The officer had to fund purchases in advance. That defendant introduced O'Conner as a local source of supply.

Macpherson offered to supply ecstasy at a lower price. The officer was said to have had conversations with Dotters.

The offences covered the middle of last year and the case concerned heroin and ecstasy.

Mr Roderick Priestley, for Atkinson, said he had been a heroin addict since 1991.

"It is a long term heroin addiction that has lead to him being in his present predicament. "

His involvement was simply to fund his addiction, not to profit in a financial way.

Mr Philip Curran, for O'Conner said he was not someone who had a large ready stock of tablets. He had not been warehousing drugs.

Miss Sharon Watson, for Dotters said her client had been a small cog in a larger operation. She simply passed on messages from the undercover officer.

"Her actual involvement seemed to go no further," he told the court.

For Macpherson, Mr. Tony Cross said he merely had a walk on part in a play staged by others.

"It is a case of bravado, one person being sucked in to talk about huge quantities of drugs he could not satisfy."

Judge Andrew Blake, in passing sentence, said such offences inevitably attracted custodial sentences due to the misery class A drugs in general spread in society.