You might have come across some senile judges with views that make Heinrick Himmler sound like a liberal in your time, but Judge Haworth of Cambridge takes the piss, and the Cambridge Police should be provided with black shirts immediately for this one:

Two charity workers, Ruth Wyner and John Brock from a drop in and advice centre for drug users in Cambridge have been sentenced to five and four years for allowing the supply of heroin on the premises. Although Judge Haworth accepted that the workers who have dedicated their lives to helping the homeless, did not benefit from the activities of a few user dealers on or near their premises, he still saw fit to bang them up and so play his part in the war on drugs (on drug users - SIC).

The old bill took it on themselves to pose as homeless people and try to buy drugs off other users in the Wintercomfort Centre - a tactic known as 'buy and bust' that a lot of you will be familiar with. Instead of warning Ruth and John about what they saw, and secretly filmed, they went straight down there and nicked them. Now the Centre was being used by up to 150 people a day, and the workers had been doing their best to stop dealing going on (banning people they suspected was one) but this wasn't enough for the judge. He said they should have handed over the names to the police despite the risk of violent reprisals and the compromising of confidentiality. If all such drop in centres did this with every user they even suspected of dealing, then no one would go near them.

Also if some dealing goes on in such centres, it doesnÕt compare with the amount of gear changing hands in Her Majesty's Prisons. So Judge Howarth, are we going to see Prison Governors on trial as well.

Judge Howarth and the Cambridge Police need to get real. People like Ruth and John need support not persecution. TheyÕre trying to help people get out of homelessness and drugs, not make the situation worse.

THE CITIZEN

Letters of support to The Cambridge Two Action Committee, 146 Scotland Road, Cambridge, CB41QQ.