Derbyshire man jailed for his part in heroin dealing ring which saw his brother sent to prison last month

Ashley Russell Dunne appeared before Derby Crown Court on Tuesday, September 22, after admitting possession of heroin with intent to supply on December 4 last year.

Police discovered 13.9 grammes of the Class A drug following a raid on the home of Dunne’s mother and evidence was also discovered on a mobile phone linking Dunne to the sale of drugs, said Sarah Allen, prosecuting.

“He accepts that he was supplying heroin for about two weeks,” she told the court.

Dunne, 23, of Poppy Fields Close, Matlock, also admitted affray in a separate incident, which saw a Matlock man stamped on and kicked by a gang in the town back in 2018, and left him needing hospital treatment.

The court heard that Dunne was present at the scene of the attack but played no physical part in the incident, which left the victim with a fractured eye socket and bruising to his head and face.

Dunne, who has two young children, was placed on an electronically monitored curfew but breached it to the extent the company responsible for monitoring it effectively gave up on him, the court was told.

Mitigating, Nicoleta Alistari said that Dunne was making efforts to turn his “dysfunctional lifestyle” around.

She said: “He’s stopped drinking and he is looking for a job. His dysfunctional lifestyle has led to a protection plan being put in place in relation to his two children, but he wants to be a better father to them than his father was to him.

“He has been seeing them three times a week and he hopes that, if he is given a chance, he can turn his life around.”

In August, we reported that Dunne’s older brother, Ricky Dunne, 24, of Overdale, Matlock, was jailed for three years for possession of cocaine and heroin, while Thomas Stones, 25, of Chesterfield Road, Matlock, was sentenced to 28 months imprisonment for possession with intent to supply cocaine and heroin.

They both pleaded guilty to the offences, and were arrested following a drugs warrant on Overdale back in December.

Officers carried out the search following a series of reports by residents in the area about anti-social behaviour and drug misuse.

Joseph Heappey, 18, of Oat Hill, Wirksworth, and Tracey Marriott, 47, formerly of Overdale, Matlock, were also sentenced at the earlier hearing at Derby Crown Court on Tuesday, July 28.

Heappey was handed a community order of 18 months and ordered to complete 180 hours unpaid work for possession with intent to supply Class B drugs, while Marriott was sentenced to a 12-month community order for permitting the supply of controlled drugs.

Judge Shaun Smith QC handed Dunne a 21-month prison sentence, minus the 85 days he had been on the electronic tag.

He also ordered representatives from the company monitoring the tag and the Ministry of Justice to appear before him later this week to explain why the curfew had not been properly enforced.

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