Children as young as 12 ‘queued to use drug den’

A drug den was being frequented by children as young as 12, a council has reported.

The terraced house is located on Selbourne Street in Newport, Middlesbrough. Metal screens had been erected to cover the doors and windows.

Children were also seen there, forming a queue outside the house with other users.

Middlesbrough Council worked with Cleveland Police to carry out the shutdown operation after they received a series of complaints.

This included more than 20 reports of drug dealing at the house between June and November 2020. Visitors to the den would call to pick up cannabis and pills at all hours of the day.

There were also complaints of drug dealers fighting in the street, disturbing the peace whilst they used bats and poles to attack each other.

Officers had previously found cannabis at the property in a raid in November. Methadone, a substitute for heroin, was also found there in a separate police operation last month.

Middlesbrough Council said that a sign found inside the house read: "no weed, don't knock."

The house on Selbourne Street received a closure order for three months and was boarded up on Tuesday. Two people currently living there are subject to further police inquiries.

Mayor of Middlesbrough, Andy Preston, said: "This latest closure is sending them [the drug dealers] a clear message that they're not welcome and will be removed from decent, law-abiding neighbourhoods."

Mr Preston also tweeted: “There's no place in our communities for the sort of people who peddle fear, misery & addiction.”

Figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that, between 2017 and 2019, Middlesbrough had one of the highest numbers of drug deaths in the North East.

Its rate of 21.3 per 100,000 people is one of the highest in England three times higher than the national rate of 7.1 deaths per 100,000.