74 YEAR OLD Cocaine Dealer ARRESTED

A pensioner has been jailed for dealing crack cocaine on the streets on days out from his sheltered accommodation. Alvin Ricketts, 74, dressed in flamboyant hats and suits to peddle the class A drug in Soho, central London.

The grandfather-of-two was arrested after selling cocaine to undercover police officers to fund his own habit and top up his pension.

He was jailed for two years and nine months after pleading guilty to two counts of supplying crack cocaine.

He was also handed a five-year ASBO after appearing at Southwark Crown Court yesterday.

A charge of supplying crack cocaine and a charge of supplying heroin will also lie on file.

Leading the operation, Detective Chief Superintendent Kevin Southworth, said: "Alvin Ricketts was one of a group of drug dealers arrested as part of Operation Rense who congregated in Soho.

"Ricketts was truly brazen in his offending, wearing a variety of quite flamboyant hats, dinner scarves and other outfits that made him stand out.

"The 74-year-old would regularly travel from his sheltered housing accommodation to sell class A drugs in the heart of the West End and his conviction and sentence should again be a stark warning to others that Westminster Police are absolutely committed to tackling drug-related crime in all its forms."

The court heard how Ricketts was a cocaine and heroin user who sold 'quite high quality' drugs in an area where known to rip off addicts.

The elderly man lived in sheltered housing in Mayfield Avenue, Finchley, where he paid £1,000-per-month rent, which he received £720 housing benefit towards.


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