A man was beaten and kept prisoner in a flat over a number of days due to a drug debt. The victim was left with a broken nose and ribs, with his mother fearing her son would be “killed by drug dealers”.

Thomas Smith sold crack cocaine and used a flat to package up the class A drug and sent it out to customers. But when the victim built up a drug debt, he was held as a “prisoner” at a flat in Darlington until he “worked off” his debt or paid 30-year-old Smith back.

Alexander Allan was described as Smith’s “right hand man” with Smith playing a “significant role in street dealing of class A drugs” between November and December last year. Smith had a number of contacts and would advertise the drugs he had in stock by text messages. He would then send people out to deliver the goods.

The v

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