‘Beacon of light’ jailed for drug supply

A reformed drug addict who was described as “a beacon of light” for those blighted by drugs in his local community has been given a four-and-a-half-year sentence for having almost €30,000 worth of heroin.

Leslie Hunt, aged 37, was caught with €29,763 worth of heroin in 2013. The court heard he had been a street level drug dealer in the Darndale area of Dublin, who had “a long and deep-seated addiction to drugs”.

He started a residential drug treatment programme last April and a defence witness told the court how Hunt has since turned his life around, “is a talking point in the community”, and is setting “a positive example” for those scourged by drugs.