A judge criticised for not jailing a heroin dealer because our prisons were too full did the right thing, a penal reform group says. Police found 80 heroin wraps hidden in Thomas Scarth's car. At Teesside Crown Court last week, Judge Guy Whitburn gave Scarth, who pleaded guilty, a 12-month jail sentence, suspended for 18 months. Since then, Judge Whitburn has been condemned by anti-drugs campaigners, Redcar MP Vera Baird and Middlesbrough Mayor Ray Mallon. The Crown Prosecution Service is considering an appeal. However, Frances Crook, director of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: "Community sentences, in particular for young people, provide the best chance for them to turn their lives around and not commit further offences. "Prison costs the taxpayer a fortune and can simply provide more opportunities for a person to go further into a life of crime." Scarth, 19, of Redcar, east Cleveland, spent 112 days in custody before his trial. He was arrested after being seen hiding 6.5g of heroin behind the bumper of his car. The court heard that a month earlier, he was fined £100 by Teesside Magistrates' Court for heroin possession. Explaining his sentence, Judge Whitburn said: "The jails are full to overflowing . . . and we are urged not to imprison young men for offences of this nature if they are of a comparatively minor scale." Ms Baird said: "This is a silly sentence for someone who has been caught with more than 80 wraps of heroin. "What about the people of Redcar who suffer from house burglaries and robberies because people are addicted to heroin? "This sentence is wrong in law, as Scarth should have been looking at between three and four years in prison for drug dealing. I doubt this judge has ever set foot in Redcar and seen with his own eyes how drug dealers and heroin blights the community. He simply has no experience of this. The people in the town that I have spoken to are flabbergasted by this sentence and its stupidity. "His comments that the prisons are too full is sheer nonsense. I checked myself and there were around 3500 places in the prison system on that day. "Other judges sitting at the same time sent people to prison, so there really wasn't any excuse." A Crown Prosecution Service spokeswoman said: "We are in the process of considering appealing the sentence given to Thomas Scarth as unduly lenient. A decision has not been made as yet." | 
